Systems and methods for incentivizing user feedback for translation processing

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of various embodiments may enable or refine translation of text between a first language and a second language. In particular, systems and methods may enable or refine a text translation by soliciting and/or receiving feedback for: translation of a first word or phrase from a first language to a second language; transformation of the first word or phrase (in the first language) to a second word or phrase in the first language; or transformation of the first word or phrase (in the first language) to a second word or phrase in the second language. The systems and methods of various embodiments may incentivize user feedback for failed translations in order to encourage user feedback, improve the quality of user feedback received, and to permit development of translation corpora that can evolve with time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/221,142, filed Mar. 20, 2014, entitled “Systems and Methods for Incentivizing User Feedback for Translation Processing,” which is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/908,979, filed Jun. 3, 2013, entitled “Systems and Methods for Incentivizing User Feedback for Translation Processing,” which is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/763,565, filed Feb. 8, 2013, entitled “Systems and Methods for Multi-User Multi-Lingual Communications,” and which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/778,282, filed Mar. 12, 2013, entitled “Group Chat Translation Systems and Methods,” each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention(s) generally relate to communications and, more particularly, communications across the world involving multiple users and multiple languages.

2. Description of Related Art

Before the advent of machine-based language translations (hereafter, “machine translations”), translation between two languages was only possible via intervention or interpretation by a person educated in both languages. In contrast, typical machine translators operate based on statistical/stochastic analysis of context and grammar, usually without need of human intervention/interpretation.

Typical machine translation is often error prone, particularly where the text to be translated has a minimal context. Text having minimal context is often found in conversations, which employ brief sentence construction. Additionally, machine translations often have trouble with abbreviations, acronyms, diminutives, colloquial words/phrases, proper nouns, and common nouns, which are also commonly found in conversational text.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments described herein provide for systems and methods that relate to translation of communications, possibly between two or more users at two or more client systems. Systems and methods of various embodiments may enable or refine translation of text between a first language and a second language. In particular, systems and methods may enable or refine a text translation by soliciting (also referred to herein as “soliciting user feedback”) and/or receiving feedback (also referred to herein as “receiving user feedback” or “receiving a user feedback response”) for: translation of a first word or phrase from a first language to a second language; transformation of the first word or phrase (in the first language) to a second word or phrase in the first language (e.g., replacing an abbreviation with a word or a phrase corresponding to the abbreviation, such as ‘CA’ with ‘California’); or transformation of the first word or phrase (in the first language) to a second word or phrase in the second language. The systems and methods described herein may incentivize user feedback for failed translations in order to encourage user feedback, improve the quality of user feedback received, and to permit development of translation corpora that can evolve with time, thereby improving translation capabilities and providing a better form of communication.

It should be understood that user feedback solicited for a translation or transformation may include user feedback provided in connection with a text translation, a text transformation, or some combination of both.

Some embodiments may be useful in improving the accuracy of translation systems and methods employed in various domains, such as chat communication in gaming, postings in social media services, text-based short messaging used with mobile phones, and the like. For example, systems and methods described herein may improve translation in a multi-lingual multi-user chat system associated with an online game (e.g., in-game chat system). In such a setting, various embodiments may solicit game players to provide user feedback for (e.g., correct for) translated chat messages that are flagged for being associated with an actual or potential translation failure. As used herein, “translation failure” (also referred to herein as “failed translation”) may comprise a failure to transform a first word or phrase to a second word or phrase, a failure to translate a first word or phrase to a second word or phrase, or a some combination of both. Various systems may also reward incentives, such as in-game currency or an in-game item, to players based on the user feedback response, provided by game players, in connection with word or phrase associated with an actual or potential translation failure. As described herein, the user feedback response received from game players may be used to improve or develop corpora of different languages used by the chat translation, which can in turn improve the chat experience provided by through a chat translation system.

In particular embodiments, the translations enabled or refined by systems and methods may be utilized in different modes of communications, including Internet-based chat (e.g., Apple® iMessage, Windows® Live Messenger, etc.), e-mail (e.g., embedded forum messaging, Yahoo® mail, RFC 5322, etc.), text-based mobile phone communications (e.g., SMS messages or MMS messages), postings to online forums (e.g., postings to a web-based hobby forum), and postings to online social media services (e.g., Twitter®, Facebook®, etc.). For example, systems and methods may be implemented as part of a multi-lingual, multi-user chat system.

For some embodiments, a method comprises selecting, from a data store (or some other data source), a word or phrase associated with a potential failure to translate a message from a first language to a second language; selecting a person from which to solicit user feedback for the potential failure; and generating a query to obtain user feedback, from the person, for the word or phrase. Additionally, the method may select a person from which to solicit user feedback for the potential failure; generate a query to obtain user feedback, from the person, for the word or phrase; receive a response to the query that potentially defines the word or phrase; and evaluate the response. Based on the evaluation, the person may be rewarded an incentive for the response provided. For some embodiments, the word or phrase may be selected after the person is selected and the word or phrase selection may be dependent on the person that is selected. Alternatively, the word or phrase may be selected before the person is selected and the person may be selected according to the word or phrase selected.

The method may comprise receiving from a person a response to the generated query (also referred to herein as the “query” or “user feedback query”) where the response defines the word or phrase; evaluating the response; and, based on the evaluation, rewarding the person with an incentive for the response provided, possibly when the provided response is approved as valid and/or useful response. Depending on the specifics of the generated query, the response (also referred to herein as a “user feedback response”) may comprise a definition for the word or phrase in the first language and/or a definition for the word or phrase the word or phrase in the second language. The method may further comprise evaluating the competency of the person based on evaluation of the received response. The method may also comprise updating a transformation or translation of the word or phrase from the first language to the second language based on the evaluation of the response. The transformation or translation may be updated once the potential translation failure is determined to be resolved (e.g., in view of the user feedback responses received for the potential translation failure).

The method may prevent the word or phrase from being subsequently selected for additional user feedback for the potential failure. Preventing the word or phrase from being subsequently selected may comprise removing the word or phrase from the data store.

The word or phrase may comprise chatspeak in the first language. Additionally, the word or phrase selected may be one that is flagged as being problematic during translation or untranslatable. The word or phrase may be flagged by a communications system user that believes that the word or phrase is preventing a translation, or causing an inaccurate translation, in connection with a text (e.g., a chat message). Additionally, the word or phrase may be flagged by a system or method that automatically detects the word or phrase as being untranslatable, thereby possibly preventing translation of other, possibly larger phrases (e.g., sentences).

Depending on the embodiment, the flagged word or phrase may comprise a chatspeak word or phrase (e.g., ‘lol,’ ‘gr8t,’), which may be found in chat messages of such communications modes as Internet-based chat, e-mail, text-based mobile phone communications, postings to online forums, postings to online social media services, and the like. Accordingly, certain embodiments may assist in enabling or refining the translation of a message comprising a chatspeak word or phrase, where the translation comprises replacement of the chatspeak word or phrase with a non-chatspeak word or phrase.

The query may comprise a field configured to receive a character or string value as the response. Additionally, the query may comprise a set of preselected definitions from which the person can choose a definition for the word or phrase as the response. In some embodiments, the set of preselected definitions may comprise at least one definition provided by another person in response to another query, the other query being previously generated to obtain user feedback for the word or phrase from the other person. The other query may have comprised a field configured to receive a character or string value as the response, or comprised another set of preselected definitions from which the other person chose the definition.

Evaluation of the response may comprise determining whether the response is approved (e.g., as valid or useful for the word or phrase at interest). The response may be approved based on at least one previous response provided by another person in response to another query, the other query being previously generated to obtain user feedback for the word or phrase from the other person. In some embodiments, the response may be approved once the response is determined to accurately define the word or phrase.

In some embodiments, the person may be selected based on a confidence measure of the person, a quota associated with the person (e.g., incentive quota or quota on the number of times the person has participated in the user feedback process), an incentive previous awarded to the person for user feedback, a preference of the person, and/or a language ability of the person.

The incentive may have an associated value, possibly in connection a real-world economy (e.g., incentive has a currency value) or a virtual economy (e.g., in-game currency or in-game item). An amount of the incentive may be determined based on the complexity of the word or phrase and/or the importance of the word or phrase.

Certain embodiments provide for a system comprising various components that are configured to perform various operations described herein. Likewise, certain embodiments provides for a computer program product comprising computer instruction codes configured to cause the computer system to perform various operations described herein.

Other features and aspects of various embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the features of such embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments are described in detail with reference to the following figures. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict some embodiments. These drawings shall not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment utilizing a multi-lingual communications system in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example communication transformation and translation system in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example transformation module in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example chat client system in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of multi-lingual communication in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of transforming communications in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example multi-lingual chat session between chat client systems, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example digital device that can be utilized in the implementation of various embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example user feedback system in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example user feedback client system in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for user feedback in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an example data flow for a user feedback system in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 17 depicts screenshots illustrating an example of receiving user feedback for a word in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 18 depicts screenshots illustrating an example of skipping user feedback in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 19 depicts screenshots illustrating an example of receiving user feedback for a phrase in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 20 depicts screenshots illustrating an example of receiving user feedback through a listing of select-form responses in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 21 depicts screenshots illustrating an example of creating a listing of select-form responses in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 22 depicts screenshots illustrating example incentive notifications in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 23 depicts screenshots illustrating an example of when a translation has failed between client chat systems in accordance with various embodiments.

FIGS. 24 and 25 depict screenshots illustrating example listings of words or phrases available for user feedback in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 26 depicts a screenshot illustrating an example of defining a word in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 27 depicts a screenshot illustrating an example listing of select-form responses in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 28 depicts a screenshot illustrating an example listing of statuses for responses submitted in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 29 depicts a screenshots illustrating an example incentive notification in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments described herein relate to and facilitate multi-lingual communications. The systems and methods of some embodiments may enable multi-lingual communications through different modes of communications including, for example, Internet-based chat (e.g., Apple® iMessage, Windows® Live Messenger, etc.), e-mail (e.g., embedded forum messaging, Yahoo® mail, RFC 5322, etc.), text-based mobile phone communications (e.g., SMS messages or MMS messages), postings to online forums (e.g., postings to a web-based hobby forum), postings to online social media services (e.g., Twitter®, Facebook®, etc.), and the like. Certain embodiments may also be used to translate transcripts of communications or conversations that took place in the past (e.g., deposition transcripts or chat history). Various embodiments may implement communications systems and methods that translate text between two or more languages (e.g., spoken), while handling/accommodating for one or more of the following in the text: specialized/domain-related jargon (e.g., chatspeak), abbreviations, acronyms, proper nouns, common nouns, diminutives, colloquial words or phrases, and profane words or phrases. For example, some systems and methods described herein may be utilized in connection with a chat system, such as those used in massive-multiplayer online (MMO) games, which tend to have users that chat in different foreign languages. Through certain embodiments, the chat dialogue between two or more users can be transparently translated and presented to each user in their respective native language or language of choice. Additionally, through the use of a multi-tiered/multi-module transformation process, certain embodiments may facilitate faster translation of communication between two or more users (e.g., in their respective native languages) than otherwise possible by traditional translation systems alone (e.g., translation in a matter of microseconds).

According to some embodiments, a system or method may perform translation from chatspeak in a first language, such as English, to chatspeak in a second language, such as French. In another example, a system or method may perform transformation from chatspeak in the first language (e.g., English) to formal speak in the first language (e.g., English), before attempting translation to the second language (e.g., French). Some embodiments may achieve such text translations by first querying a data store (e.g., translations cache), which may contain translations manually entered by a human operator or translations based on previously performed by a translation system (e.g., historical translations performed by an embodiment). Embodiments may attempt to transform one or more portions of the text (e.g., process one or more of the following within the text: chatspeak, acronyms, abbreviations, proper nouns, common nouns, colloquialisms, and profanity) to make it more suitable for accurate text translation. For example, certain embodiments may transform a given text to account for (current or past) idiomatic language use across different languages. Embodiments may reattempt querying the data store after transformation of the portions of the text. If this translation lookup reattempt fails, embodiments may attempt to translate the text (which may have been transformed) using a machine translation service (e.g., third-party, cloud-based translation service, such as Google® translate).

Embodiments may attempt to transform a translated piece of formal text to chatspeak in the new language (e.g., transform French formal speak to French chatspeak) to further refine the translation of the text eventually produced. Accordingly, certain embodiments facilitate chat translation between chatspeak in a first language (e.g., English) to chatspeak in a second language (e.g., Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, etc.).

Some embodiments may help reduce or avoid the need for using machine translations (thereby reducing time, cost, and other overhead associated with machine translations), and may facilitate accurate translations of text having minimal context or comprising short sentence structure. Where the machine translation is facilitated by a third-party service or over a secure network connection (e.g., Secure-Socket Layer [SSL] connection), the cost or overhead avoided by certain embodiments may be significant.

As understood herein, “transformation” means manipulating a first text segment, in a first language, to form a second text segment in the first language. The resulting second text segment may also be referred to herein as the “transformed text.” “Translation” will be understood to mean converting a text segment in a first language to a corresponding text segment in a second language.

As also understood herein, a “transformed translation” means translation of a text segment (from a first language to a second language) that has already been transformed in accordance with embodiments described herein (e.g., transformed from chatspeak text in a first language to formal text in the first language). An “untransformed translation” will be understood to mean a translation of a text segment (from a first language to a second language) before the text segment has been transformed in accordance with embodiments described herein.

Various embodiments may implement different transformation/translation strategies, with certain strategies being well suited for particular translation applications. For example, for particular chat system applications, the transformation strategy implemented may comprise applying the following set of transformation-related modules in the order listed: chatspeak module, acronym module, proper noun module, common noun module, colloquialism module, spelling check module, abbreviation module, and profanity module. Generally, the transformation/translation strategy employed determines which transformation operations are performed, when the transformation operations are performed in the overall translation process (e.g., transformation performed before or after machine translation), or in what order the transformation operations are performed (e.g., precedence or priority of transformation operations). The transformation/translation strategy may also determine what translations are pre-populated into the data store (e.g., translations can be stored in a translation “cache” to speed up the overall process) and when translation caches are utilized in the overall translation process. For certain embodiments, the transformation/translation strategy employed may be dynamically determined based on the conditions of the environment in which the embodiments are used. For example, where a chat system is experiencing a heavier load of users than usual, the transformation/translation strategy may switch to one that lessens the processing burden of the chat system (e.g., relies more on machine translations rather than on the data store).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment 100 utilizing a multi-lingual system in accordance with various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 1, the example environment 100 comprises clients 102-1 through 102-N (hereafter, collectively referred to as “clients 102” or “client 102”), a chat server 108, and a translation server 110, each of which may be communicatively coupled with each other through a computer network 106. In accordance with some embodiments, the computer network 106 may be implemented or facilitated using one or more local or wide-area communications networks, such as the Internet, WiFi networks, WiMax networks, private networks, public networks, and the like. Depending on the embodiment, some or all of the communication connections with the computer network 106 may utilize encryption (e.g., Secure Sockets Layer [SSL]) to secure information being transferred between the various entities shown in the example environment 100.

Each of the clients 102, the chat server 108, and the translation server 110 may be implemented using one or more digital devices, which may be similar to the digital devices discussed later with respect to FIG. 12. For instance, the client 102-1 may be any form of computing device capable of receiving user input (e.g., configured for user interaction), capable of providing a client user interface that facilitates communications with one or more other clients (e.g., any of clients 102-2 through 102-N), and capable of communicating with the chat server 108 through the computer network 106. Such computing devices may include a mobile phone, a tablet computing device, a laptop, a desktop computer, personal digital assistant, a portable gaming unit, a wired gaming unit, a thin client, a set-top box, a portable multi-media player, or any other type of network accessible user device known to those of skill in the art. Further, one or more of the chat server 108 and the translation server 110 may comprise of one or more servers, which may be operating on or implemented using one or more cloud-based services (e.g., System-as-a-Service [SaaS], Platform-as-a-Service [PaaS], or Infrastructure-as-a-Service [IaaS]).

The clients 102 may be configured to communicatively connect with the chat server 108, which provides or otherwise facilitates chat sessions between the clients 102. Each of the clients 102-1 through 102-N may comprise a chat client system (104-1 through 104-N, respectively) that enables a user at each of the clients 102 to access to the chat session through the chat server 108. Additionally, depending on the embodiment, each of the chat client systems 104-1 through 104-N (hereafter, collectively referred to as “chat client systems 104” or “chat client system 104”) may be implemented as a standalone chat application, as a chat feature embedded in non-chat application (e.g., video game), or through a chat service accessible at the client through a web browser. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for some embodiments the chat client systems 104 may be non-heterogeneous with respect to one another and still be capable of establishing a chat session between them. The chat client systems 104 may be capable of receiving chat input (e.g., a chat message) from their respective users in a language (and corresponding character set) selected by the user (e.g., based on user settings or preferences), and transmitting the chat input to the chat server 108 to be relayed to another user (e.g., another user at another chat client system). The chat client systems 104 may also be capable of receiving chat output (e.g., chat session dialogue) from the chat server 108 (e.g., from another user at another chat client system), and displaying the received chat output in a language (and corresponding character set) selected by the user (e.g., based on user settings or preferences).

Through the use of some embodiments, the translation of the chat dialogue may be transparent to the users as dialogue is passed between the chat client systems 104. Accordingly, for some embodiments, all chat dialogue presented at a given chat client system 104 may be in a language native to (or selected by) the user at that given chat client system 104, irrespective of what language is being by users, at other chat client systems 104 that are contributing to the same chat dialogue. For example, where the user at the chat client system 104-1 and the user at the chat client system 104-2 are contributing to the same chat dialogue (i.e., involved in the same chat session), the user at the chat client system 104-1 may have chosen to enter and receive chat dialogue in English while the user at the chat client system 104-2 may have chosen to enter and receive chat dialogue in Russian. Though the users at the client systems 104-1 and 104-2 will see the same chat content, the chat dialogue will be presented in their respectively chosen languages.

As shown, the chat server 108 may comprise a chat host system 112 configured to established and/or facilitate chat sessions between the chat client systems 104, and a communication transformation and translation (CTT) system 114 configured to perform transformation and/or translation operations in accordance with the various systems and methods described herein. For some embodiments, the chat client systems 104 may establish a chat session with each other through the chat host system 112, and the chat host system 112 may utilize the features of the CTT system 114 in facilitating the transparent translation of chat dialogue between the chat client systems 104. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for some embodiments, the chat host system 112 and the CTT system 114 may be part of separate servers, and that the entity operating the chat host system 112 may be different from the entity operating the CTT system 114. For instance, the chat host system 112 may be a third-party chat host system that utilizes the services of the CTT system 114.

As also shown, the translation server 110 may comprise a translation module 116 configured to receive and service requests for machine text translation. In accordance with some embodiments, the CTT system 114 may utilize the operations/services of the translation module 116 in performing machine translations of texts. The CTT system 114 may use of one or more translation application programming interfaces (APIs) to obtain access to the services provided by the translation module 116. Depending on the embodiment, the translation module 116 (and the server 110 on which it resides) may be operated by a third-party, such as Google®, which may offer the machine translation services free of charge or for a fee. Though the translation module 116 is shown to be a component operating on a server separate from the CTT system 114, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, for some embodiments, the translation module 116 may operating on the same server as the CTT system 114 and/or may be an integrated component of the CTT system 114.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example communication transformation and translation system 114 in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the CTT system 114 may comprise a communication transformation and translation (CTT) control module 202, a communication transformation and translation (CTT) communications module 204, a language module 206, a transformation module 208, a translation data store 210, and a translation application programming interface (API) module 212. The CTT control module 202 may be configured to control and/or orchestrate performance of various operations within the CTT system 114 as the CTT system 114 performs transformation or translation operations in accordance with some systems and methods described herein. For some embodiments, the CTT control module 202 may control the operation of other components of the CTT system 114, such as the CTT communications module 204, the language module 206, the transformation module 208, the translation data stores 210, and the translation API module 212.

The CTT communications module 204 may be configured to facilitate communications between the CTT system 114 and systems and components external to the CTT system 114, such as the chat server 108 and/or the translation server 110. Accordingly, through the CTT communications module 204, the CTT system 114 may receive the chat dialogue (comprising one or more chat messages) to be transformed or translated by the CTT system 114, and may output the translated chat dialogue that results from the CTT system 114.

The language module 206 may be configured to identify the one or more languages used in connection with chat dialogue received by the CTT system 114. For some embodiments, the language module 206 may identify the language through analysis of the content of the chat dialogue received, and/or obtaining language preference/settings information from the respective chat client systems (e.g., chat client systems 104) involved with the chat dialogue received.

The transformation module 208 may be configured to perform transformation operations on chat dialogue (comprising one or more chat messages), received by the CTT system 114, in accordance with some systems and methods described herein. In accordance with some embodiments, the transformation operations performed by the transformation module 208 may include, without limitation, those relating to chatspeak, acronyms, abbreviations, proper nouns, common nouns, colloquialisms, and profanity. Additional details of the transformation module 208 are discussed in FIG. 3.

The translation data store 210 may be configured to store and subsequently provide previously translated text to the CTT system 114 as the CTT system 114 performs transformed translations and untransformed translations in accordance with the some system and methods described herein. As described herein, the translation data store 210 may operate as a cache for translations previously performed by the CTT system 114, and/or may store translations manually entered and stored by a human operator (e.g., by way of a translation training system). For some embodiments, the translation data store 210 may be populated with translations that would speed up the performance of the CTT system 114 with respect to certain chat contexts. For example, where the CTT system 114 is utilized in conjunction with a chat system associated with an MMO game, the translation data store 210 may be populated (e.g., by the operator of the CTT system 114) with (transformed and untransformed) translations relating specifically to the MMO game. For certain embodiments, the multi-tiered/multi-module approach of transforming text used by the transformation module 208 is particularly well suited for handling chat text in MMO games, which by nature tends to be complex.

Depending on the embodiment, the data store 210 may store either untransformed translations (e.g., <English Formal>‘you’→<French Formal>‘vous’), transformed translations (e.g., <English Chatspeak>‘u’→<French Formal>‘vous’), or both. For some embodiments, the translation data store 210 may store translations such that corresponding chat messages may be identified using hash values/tags. For instance, to store a Spanish translation for an original message in English, the Spanish translation may be stored based on a hash value of the English message, thereby enabling the Spanish translation to be later located and obtained using the hash value of the English message. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for some embodiments, the translation data store 210 may comprise a separate data store for translations between two specific languages. Accordingly, when a chat message is being transformed/translated between English and French, a corresponding data English-French data store may be utilized for operations relating to the translation data store 210.

The translation API module 212 may be configured to provide the CTT system 114 with access to machine translation services provided external to the CTT system 114 (e.g., by the translation module 116 of the translation server 110). As described herein, the translation API module 212 may be utilized by the CTT system 114 when a translation is not located in the translation data store 210.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example transformation module 208 in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the transformation module 208 may comprise a chatspeak module 302, an acronym module 304, a proper noun module 306, a common noun module 308, a colloquialism module 310, a spelling check module 312, an abbreviation module 314, and/or a profanity module 316. According to some embodiments, during operation the transformation module 208 may process a chat message in whole or in parts (e.g., breaks the message into tokens or logical portions and then processes those tokens/portions). In some embodiments, various modules of the transformation module 208 may be called in parallel.

The chatspeak module 302 may be configured to identify one or more words or phrases in a chat message that are associated with chat jargon (i.e., chatspeak), and may be further configured to suggest replacement (e.g., corresponding formal/i.e., non-chatspeak) words or phrases for the identified words or phrases. In some embodiments, the chatspeak module 302 may flag an identified chatspeak word or phrase to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified chatspeak word or phrase may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a chatspeak word or phrase and/or its corresponding (formal) word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising chatspeak words or phrases and/or mappings between chatspeak words or phrases and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. For example, the chatspeak module 302 may employ statistical machine translation in its functionality. For some embodiments, the statistical machine translation employed may be trained using parallel texts and/or using phrase-level pairs extracted from transformations that preserve contextual information and/or add grammar to an otherwise ungrammatical sentence. The result from the chatspeak module 302 may comprise a chatspeak word or phrase flagged by the chatspeak module 302 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a non-chatspeak word or phrase inserted into the message by the chatspeak module 302 (e.g., in place of the identified chatspeak word or phrase). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the chatspeak module 302 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the chatspeak module 302 is in the data store 210.

The acronym module 304 may be configured to identify one or more acronyms in a chat message, and may be further configured to suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the acronyms. In some embodiments, the acronym module 304 may flag an identified acronym to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified acronym may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify an acronym and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising acronyms and/or mappings between acronyms and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The result from the acronym module 304 may comprise an acronym flagged by the acronym module 304 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the acronym module 304 (e.g., in place of the identified acronym). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the acronym module 304 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the acronym module 304 is in the data store 210.

The proper noun module 306 may be configured to identify one or more proper nouns in a chat message, and may be further configured to suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the proper nouns. In some embodiments, the proper noun module 306 may flag an identified proper noun to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified proper noun may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a proper noun and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising proper nouns (e.g., well-known proper nouns such as Disneyland®, or common names for individuals) and/or mappings between proper nouns and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The result from the proper noun module 306 may comprise a proper noun flagged by the proper noun module 306 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the proper noun module 306 (e.g., in place of the identified proper noun). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the proper noun module 306 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the proper noun module 306 is in the data store 210.

The common noun module 308 may be configured to identify one or more common nouns in a chat message, and may be further configured to suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the common nouns. In some embodiments, the common noun module 308 may flag an identified common noun to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified common noun may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a common noun and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising common nouns and/or mappings between common nouns and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The result from the common noun module 308 may comprise a common noun flagged by the common noun module 308 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the common noun module 308 (e.g., in place of the identified common noun). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the common noun module 308 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the common noun module 308 is in the data store 210.

The colloquialism module 310 may be configured to identify one or more colloquial words or phrases in a chat message, and may be further configured to suggest replacement (e.g., corresponding formal/i.e., non-colloquial) words or phrases for the identified words or phrases. In some embodiments, the colloquialism module 310 may flag an identified colloquial word or phrase to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified colloquial word or phrase may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a colloquial word or phrase and/or its corresponding (formal) word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising colloquial words or phrases and/or mappings between colloquial words or phrases and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The result from the colloquialism module 310 may comprise a colloquial word or phrase flagged by the colloquialism module 310 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a non-colloquial word or phrase inserted into the message by the colloquialism module 310 (e.g., in place of the identified colloquial word or phrase). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the colloquialism module 310 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the colloquialism module 310 is in the data store 210.

The spelling check module 312 may be configured to identify one or more misspelled words or phrases in a chat message, and may be further configured to suggest replacement (e.g., corrected) words or phrases for the identified words or phrases. For example, the spelling check module 312 may be configured to automatically correct the words or phrases with the suggested replacement words or phrases. In some embodiments, the spelling check module 312 may flag an identified misspelled word or phrase to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified misspelled word or phrase may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a misspelled word or phrase and/or its corresponding (corrected) word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising misspelled words or phrases and/or mappings between misspelled words or phrases and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The result from the spelling check module 312 may comprise a misspelled word or phrase flagged by the spelling check module 312 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a corrected word or phrase inserted into the message by the spelling check module 312 (e.g., in place of the misspelled word or phrase). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the spelling check module 312 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the spelling check module 312 is in the data store 210.

The abbreviation module 314 may be configured to identify one or more abbreviations in a chat message, and may be further configured to suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the abbreviations. In some embodiments, the abbreviation module 314 may flag an identified abbreviation to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified abbreviation may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify an abbreviation and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising abbreviations and/or mappings between abbreviations and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The result from the abbreviation module 314 may comprise an abbreviation flagged by the abbreviation module 314 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the abbreviation module 314 (e.g., in place of the identified abbreviation). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the abbreviation module 314 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the abbreviation module 314 is in the data store 210.

The profanity module 316 may be configured to identify one or more profane words or phrases (hereafter, referred to as a “profanity”) in a chat message, and may be further configured to suggest replacement words or phrases (e.g., suitable substitute) corresponding to the profanity (e.g., a toned down euphemism). In some embodiments, the profanity module 316 may flag identified profanity to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, identified profanity may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify profanity and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising profanity and/or mappings between abbreviations and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The result from the profanity module 316 may comprise profanity flagged by the profanity module 316 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the profanity module 316 (e.g., in place of the identified profanity). Depending on the embodiment, the message that results from the profanity module 316 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the profanity module 316 is in the data store 210.

For some embodiments, one or more various modules of the transformation module 208 may flag one or more portions of the chat message by inserting a predetermined character before and/or after the portion being flagged. For instance, where the chatspeak module 302 flags the word “LOL” in a portion of the chat message, the chatspeak module 302 may insert an predetermined character (“_”) before and/or after the word (e.g., “_LOL_”) to indicate that the flagged portion should be ignored by the translation module 116.

For some embodiments, the transformation module 208 may perform two or more transformation operations on the initial message in parallel, and in response, each of the two or more transformation operations may return a separate response, from which the transformation module 208 may then select one transformed message for further processing (e.g., to be used in operation 514). Depending on the embodiment, each response may comprise a flagged text portion, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the initial message. Thereafter, the transformed message selected may be according to a priority of selection, which can determine which transformed message is selected for further processing and according to what precedent. In some embodiments, the priority selection may be according to which transformation operation is most likely to generate a transformed message suitable for a subsequent lookup in the translation data store 210) or for subsequent machine translation. Additionally, in some embodiments, the priority of selection may be according to which transformation operation generates the most formal transformed message. The priority of selection may depend on the transformation/translation strategy selected by the embodiment.

The following provides examples of how the transformation module 208 may process a portion of a chat message in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the transformation module 208 may process a chat message based on tokens or proximal tokens, and may cease processing on a particular token once a transformation is performed.

Token(s) from a Chat Message Transformation Processing Token = ‘USA’ Chatspeak Module (‘USA’) → Acronym Module (‘USA’) → Flag for non-translation. Token = ‘brb’ Chatspeak Module (‘brb’) → Acronym Module (‘brb’) → Proper Noun Module (‘brb’) → Common Noun Module (‘brb’) → Colloquialism Module (‘brb’) → Spelling Check Module (‘brb’) → Abbreviation Module (‘brb’) →Trans- form to ‘be right back’ Token = ‘9’ Chatspeak Module (‘9’) →Transform to ‘parents watching over shoulder’ Token =‘99’ Chatspeak Module (‘99’) →Transform to ‘parents stopped watching over shoulder’ Proximal tokens = Chatspeak Module (‘go gabe’) → Acronym ‘go gabe’ Module (‘go gabe’) → Proper Noun Module (‘going’) → Common Noun Module (‘go gabe’) → Flag for likely being a common noun. String = ‘Your Spelling Check Module (‘Your’) → Correct with going to attack him?’ ‘You’re’ based on proximal token ‘going’ (i.e., Token#1 = ‘Your’ using proximal context for spell checking). Token#2 = ‘going’ Chatspeak Module (‘going’) → Acronym Module Token#3 = ‘to’ (‘going’) → Proper Noun Module (‘going’) → Token#4 = ‘attack’ Common Noun Module (‘going’) → Token#5 = ‘him’ Colloquialism Module (‘going’) → Spelling Check Module(‘going’) → Abbreviation Module (‘going’) → Profanity Module (‘going’) → No transform. Chatspeak Module (‘to’) → Acronym Module (‘to’) → Proper Noun Module (‘to’) → Common Noun Module (‘to’) → Colloquialism Module (‘to’) → Spelling Check Module(‘to’) → Abbreviation Module (‘to’) → Profanity Module (‘to’) → No transform. Chatspeak Module (‘attack’) → Acronym Module (‘attack’) → Proper Noun Module (‘attack’) → Common Noun Module (‘attack’) → Colloquialism Module (‘attack’) → Spelling Check Module(‘attack’) → Abbreviation Module (‘attack’) → Profanity Module (‘attack’) → No transform. Chatspeak Module (‘him’) → Acronym Module (‘him’) → Proper Noun Module (‘him’) → Common Noun Module (‘him’) → Colloquialism Module (‘him’) → Spelling Check Module (‘him’) → Abbreviation Module (‘him’) → Profanity Module (‘him’) → No transform. String = ‘Sup bro, Chatspeak Module (‘Sup’) → Replace with “How sup yall?’ is it going.” Token#1 = ‘Sup’ Chatspeak Module (‘bro’) → Acronym Module Token#2 = ‘bro’ (‘bro’) → Proper Noun Module (‘bro’) → Token#3 = ‘sup’ Common Noun Module (‘bro’) → Colloquialism Token#4 = ‘yall’ Module (‘bro’) → Spelling Check Module (‘bro’) → Abbreviation Module (‘bro’) → Replace with “brother” Chatspeak Module (‘sup’) → Replace with “how is it going.” Chatspeak Module (‘yall’) → Replace with “you all.”

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example chat client system 104 in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the chat client system 104 may comprise a chat client controller 402, a chat client communications module 404, and a chat client graphical user interface (GUI) module 406. The chat client control module 402 may be configured to control and/or orchestrate performance of various operations within the chat client system 104 as the chat client system 104 performs chat related operations (e.g., communications chat dialogue with the chat server 108). For some embodiments, the chat client control module 402 may control the operation of other components of the chat client system 104 including, for example, such as the chat client communications module 404, and the chat client GUI module 406.

The chat client communications module 404 may be configured to facilitate communications between the chat client system 104 and systems and components external to the chat client system 104, such as the chat server 108. Accordingly, through the chat client module 404, the chat client system 104 may receive from the chat server 108 the chat dialogue to be presented at the chat client system 104 (e.g., via the chat client GUI module 406), and may send to the chat server the chat dialogue received from the user at the chat client system 104 (e.g., via the chat client GUI module 406).

The chat client GUI module 406 may be configured to provide a user at the chat client system 104 with graphical input/output access to chat sessions with other chat client systems. Accordingly, for some embodiments the chat client GUI module 406 may present a user at the client 102 with a client GUI adapted for receiving user interactions through the client 102. For some embodiments, the chat client GUI module 406 may be configured to present the user with chat dialogue (e.g., as they are received from the chat server 108) in the language of their choice (e.g., according to the user language preferences/settings). Additionally, the chat client GUI module 406 may be configured to receive chat input from the user in the language of their choice (e.g., according to the user language preferences/settings). As described herein, the language used in presenting and receiving the chat dialogue at the chat client system 104 may be different from the language used in presenting and receiving the chat dialogue at another chat client system. More regarding the chat client GUI module 406 is discussed with respect to FIG. 7.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 500 for multi-lingual communication in accordance with various embodiments. As described below, for some embodiments, the method illustrated by the method 500 may perform operations in connection with the chat client system 104-1, the chat client system 104-2, the CTT system 114 (e.g., of the chat server 108), and the translation module 116 (e.g., of translation server 110).

The method 500 may start at operation 502, the language module 204 (of the CTT system 114) may being by identifying a first language being used by a user at a first chat client system (e.g., 104-1) and a second language being used by a user at a second chat client system (e.g., 104-2). According to some embodiments, the language module 204 may identify the first language and the second language by obtaining language preferences/settings from the respective chat client system 104.

At operation 504, the CTT communications module 204 (of the CTT system 114) may receive an initial message in the first language. In some embodiments, the CTT communications module 204 may receive the initial message from the chat host system 112, which may have received the initial message from a chat client system (e.g., 104-1).

At operation 506, the CTT control module 202 (of the CTT system 114) may query the translation data store 210 for a corresponding message in the second language that corresponds to the initial message. At operation 508, the CTT control module 202 may determine if a corresponding message is found in the translation data store 210. If one exists, at operation 510, the CTT communications module 204 may assist in sending the corresponding message to the second chat client system (e.g., the chat client system 104-2). In some embodiments, the corresponding message may be sent to the chat host system 112, which may relay the corresponding message to the second chat client system (e.g., 104-2). The method 500 may then end.

If a corresponding message does not exist in the translation data store 210, at operation 512, the transformation module 208 may attempt to transform at least a portion of the initial message to a transformed message in the first language. As described herein, the message that results from the transformation module 208 may be transformed or may remain unchanged (e.g., when transformation operations of the transformation module 208 are not applied to the initial message). For some embodiments, the transformation module 208 may perform two or more transformation operations on the initial message in parallel, and in response, each of the two or more transformation operations may return a separate response, from which the transformation module 208 may then select one transformed message for further processing (e.g., to be used in operation 514). Depending on the embodiment, each response may comprise a flagged text portion, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the initial message. Thereafter, the transformed message selected may be according to a priority of selection, which can determine which transformed message is selected for further processing and according to what precedent. In some embodiments, the priority selection may be according to which transformation operation is most likely to generate a transformed message suitable for a subsequent lookup in the translation data store 210) or for subsequent machine translation. Additionally, in some embodiments, the priority of selection may be according to which transformation operation generates the most formal transformed message. The priority of selection may depend on the transformation/translation strategy selected by the embodiment.

At operation 514, assuming the transformation module 208 transformed the message, the CTT control module 202 (of the CTT system 114) may query the translation data store 210 for a corresponding message in the second language that corresponds to the transformed message. At operation 516, the CTT control module 202 may determine if a corresponding message is found in the translation data store 210. If one exists, at operation 518, the CTT communications module 204 may assist in sending the corresponding message to the second chat client system (e.g., the chat client system 104-2). In some embodiments, the corresponding message may be sent to the chat host system 112, which may then relay the corresponding message to the second chat client system (e.g., 104-2). The method 500 may then end.

For some embodiments, if a corresponding message still does not exist in the translation data store 210, at operation 520, the CTT control module 202 may determine if there are any additional transformation operations of the transformation module 208 to perform on the chat message that have not already been performed.

If an additional transformation operation exists, the method 500 returns to operation 512 and performs additional transformation operation(s). Depending on the embodiment, the additional transformation operation(s) may involve applying a transform operation different from those already performed on the initial message by the transformation module 208, may involve applying the same transformation operations performed but to different portions of the English chat message, or may involve some combination thereof. For example, if during the first execution of operation 512 the transformation module 208 applies a chatspeak-related operation to the initial message (to create a first transformed message), during a second execution of operation 512 the transformation module 208 may apply an abbreviation-related operation to the second transformed message. Following, a subsequent execution of operation 512, the method 500 may continue to operations 514 and 516, where the CTT control module 202 may re-query the translation data store 210 for a corresponding message in the second language that corresponds to the latest resulting transformed message, and the CTT control module 202 may determine if a corresponding message is found in the translation data store 210. By performing the transformation and query operations in this iterative manner, certain embodiments may be able to find a corresponding message before having to perform every transformation operation available. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for certain embodiments, the transformation and query operations may be performed in series, with the query operation (e.g., operation 514) only being performed after every available transformation operation provided by the transformation module 208 has been performed on the chat message.

If a corresponding message does not exist in the translation data store 210 and an additional transformation operation (of the transformation module 208) does not exist, at operation 522, (through the translation API module 212) the translation module 116 may assist in the translating the initial message or the transformed message to a corresponding message in the second language. Subsequently, at operation 524, the CTT communications module 204 may assist in sending the corresponding message to the second chat client system (e.g., the chat client system 104-2). According to some embodiments, the corresponding message may be sent to the chat host system 112, which may then relay the corresponding message to the second chat client system (e.g., 104-2). The method 500 may then end.

For certain embodiments, the transformation module 208 may be utilized to transform the corresponding message in the second language before the corresponding message is sent to the chat host system 112. As described herein, the corresponding message may be submitted for further transformation processing to further refine the translation for the user at the second chat client system (e.g., 104-2). For example, if the initial message contains chatspeak in the first language (e.g., English), additional transformation processing can add, to the extent possible, chatspeak in the second language.

Though the steps of the above method may be depicted and described in a certain order, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the order in which the steps are performed may vary between embodiments. Additionally, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the components described above with respect to the method 500 are merely examples of components that may be used with the method, and for some embodiments other components may also be utilized in some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 600 for transforming communications in accordance with various embodiments. As described below, for some embodiments, the method 600 may perform operations in connection the transformation module 208 (e.g., of the CTT system 114).

The method may start at operation 602, with an initial message being received by the transformation module 208 for transformation processing. Based on some embodiments, the transformation module 208 may receive the initial message for transformation subsequent to a failure to identify a message in the translation data store 210, and possibly before the initial message is machine translated by a third-party or proprietary translation process (e.g., the translation module 116, which may be offered as a cloud-based service). As described herein, the transformation module 208 may be used in various embodiments to facilitate or otherwise improve text translation, particularly where the text comprises a minimal context, brief sentence construction, specialized/domain-related jargon (e.g., chatspeak for Internet-based chat) abbreviations, acronyms, colloquialisms, proper nouns, common nouns, profanity, or some combination thereof. Text translations that may benefit from the operations of the transformation module 208 may include, without limitation, translations of texts originating from conversations (e.g., transcript), from offline or online Internet-based chat (e.g., instant messaging), and from mobile phone messaging (e.g., SMS or MMS).

At operation 604, the chatspeak module 302 may identify one or more words or phrases in the initial message that are associated with chat jargon (i.e., chatspeak), and may further suggest replacement (e.g., corresponding formal/i.e., non-chatspeak) words or phrases for the identified words or phrases. In some embodiments, the chatspeak module 302 may flag an identified chatspeak word or phrase to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified chatspeak word or phrase may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a chatspeak word or phrase and/or its corresponding (formal) word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising chatspeak words or phrases and/or mappings between chatspeak words or phrases and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 604 (hereafter, “the first intermediate message”) may comprise a chatspeak word or phrase flagged by the chatspeak module 302 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a non-chatspeak word or phrase inserted into the initial message by the chatspeak module 302 (e.g., in place of the identified chatspeak word or phrase). In some instances, the first intermediate message may be the same as the initial message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the chatspeak module 302). Depending on the embodiment, the first intermediate message that results from the chatspeak module 302 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the chatspeak module 302 is in the data store 210. Following operation 604, the first intermediate message may be provided to the next operation (e.g., operation 606) of the transformation module 208 for processing.

At operation 606, the acronym module 304 may identify one or more acronyms in a chat message, and may further suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the acronyms. In some embodiments, the acronym module 304 may flag an identified acronym to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified acronym may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify an acronym and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising acronyms and/or mappings between acronyms and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 606 (hereafter, “the second intermediate message”) may comprise an acronym flagged by the acronym module 304 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the acronym module 304 (e.g., in place of the identified acronym). In some instances, the second intermediate message may be the same as the first intermediate message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the acronym module 304). Depending on the embodiment, the second intermediate message that results from the acronym module 304 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the acronym module 304 is in the data store 210. Following operation 606, the second intermediate message may be provided to the next operation (e.g., operation 608) of the transformation module 208 for processing.

At operation 608, the proper noun module 306 may identify one or more proper nouns in a chat message, and may further suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the proper nouns. In some embodiments, the proper noun module 306 may flag an identified proper noun to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified proper noun may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a proper noun and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising proper nouns (e.g., well-known proper nouns such as Disneyland®, or common names for individuals) and/or mappings between proper nouns and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 608 (hereafter, “the third intermediate message”) may comprise a proper noun flagged by the proper noun module 306 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the proper noun module 306 (e.g., in place of the identified proper noun). In some instances, the third intermediate message may be the same as the second intermediate message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the proper noun module 306). Depending on the embodiment, the third intermediate message that results from the proper noun module 306 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the proper noun module 306 is in the data store 210. Following operation 608, the third intermediate message may be provided to the next operation (e.g., operation 610) of the transformation module 208 for processing.

At operation 610, the common noun module 308 may identify one or more common nouns in a chat message, and may further suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the common nouns. In some embodiments, the common noun module 308 may flag an identified common noun to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified common noun may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a common noun and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising common nouns and/or mappings between common nouns and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 610 (hereafter, “the fourth intermediate message”) may comprise a common noun flagged by the common noun module 308 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the common noun module 308 (e.g., in place of the identified common noun). In some instances, the fourth intermediate message may be the same as the third intermediate message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the common noun module 308). Depending on the embodiment, the fourth intermediate message that results from the common noun module 308 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the common noun module 308 is in the data store 210. Following operation 610, the fourth intermediate message may be provided to the next operation (e.g., operation 612) of the transformation module 208 for processing.

At operation 612, the colloquialism module 310 may identify one or more colloquial words or phrases in a chat message, and may further suggest replacement (e.g., corresponding formal/i.e., non-colloquial) words or phrases for the identified words or phrases. In some embodiments, the colloquialism module 310 may flag an identified colloquial word or phrase to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified colloquial word or phrase may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a colloquial word or phrase and/or its corresponding (formal) word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising colloquial words or phrases and/or mappings between colloquial words or phrases and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 612 (hereafter, “the fifth intermediate message”) may comprise a colloquial word or phrase flagged by the colloquialism module 310 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a non-colloquial word or phrase inserted into the message by the colloquialism module 310 (e.g., in place of the identified colloquial word or phrase). In some instances, the fifth intermediate message may be the same as the fourth intermediate message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the colloquialism module 310). Depending on the embodiment, the fifth intermediate message that results from the colloquialism module 310 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the colloquialism module 310 is in the data store 210. Following operation 612, the fifth intermediate message may be provided to the next operation (e.g., operation 614) of the transformation module 208 for processing.

At operation 614, the spelling check module 312 may identify one or more misspelled words or phrases in a chat message, and may further suggest replacement (e.g., corrected) words or phrases for the identified words or phrases. For example, the spelling check module 312 may automatically correct the words or phrases with the suggested replacement words or phrases. In some embodiments, the spelling check module 312 may flag an identified misspelled word or phrase to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified misspelled word or phrase may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify a misspelled word or phrase and/or its corresponding (corrected) word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising misspelled words or phrases and/or mappings between misspelled words or phrases and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 614 (hereafter, “the sixth intermediate message”) may comprise a misspelled word or phrase flagged by the spelling check module 312 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a corrected word or phrase inserted into the message by the spelling check module 312 (e.g., in place of the misspelled word or phrase). In some instances, the sixth intermediate message may be the same as the fifth intermediate message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the spelling check module 312). Depending on the embodiment, the sixth intermediate message that results from the spelling check module 312 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the spelling check module 312 is in the data store 210. Following operation 614, the sixth intermediate message may be provided to the next operation (e.g., operation 616) of the transformation module 208 for processing.

At operation 616, the abbreviation module 314 may identify one or more abbreviations in a chat message, and may further suggest replacement words or phrases corresponding to (e.g., represented by) the abbreviations. In some embodiments, the abbreviation module 314 may flag an identified abbreviation to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, an identified abbreviation may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify an abbreviation and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising abbreviations and/or mappings between abbreviations and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 616 (hereafter, “the seventh intermediate message”) may comprise an abbreviation flagged by the abbreviation module 314 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the abbreviation module 314 (e.g., in place of the identified abbreviation). In some instances, the seventh intermediate message may be the same as the sixth intermediate message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the abbreviation module 314). Depending on the embodiment, the seventh intermediate message that results from the abbreviation module 314 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the abbreviation module 314 is in the data store 210. Following operation 616, the seventh intermediate message may be provided to the next operation (e.g., operation 618) of the transformation module 208 for processing.

At operation 618, the profanity module 316 may identify one or more profane words or phrases (hereafter, referred to as a “profanity”) in a chat message, and may further suggest replacement words or phrases (e.g., suitable substitute) corresponding to the profanity (e.g., a toned down euphemism). In some embodiments, the profanity module 316 may flag identified profanity to be skipped or otherwise ignored during a subsequent machine translation (e.g., by the translation module 116). Additionally, in some embodiments, identified profanity may be flagged for later review and disposition by a human operator (e.g., an administrator of the CTT system 114). In order to identify profanity and/or its corresponding word or phrase, some embodiments may utilize a dataset (e.g., stored on a data store) comprising profanity and/or mappings between abbreviations and their corresponding words and phrases. The dataset may be constructed by way of training or a learning system, may be proprietary (e.g., manually collected “in-house” by an administrator of the CTT system 114), may be commercially acquired, or may be derived from a publicly available Internet knowledgebase. The message resulting from operation 618 (hereafter, “the eighth intermediate message”) may comprise profanity flagged by the profanity module 316 to be ignored, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the message by the profanity module 316 (e.g., in place of the identified profanity). In some instances, the eighth intermediate message may be the same as the seventh intermediate message (e.g., when no replacement is performed by the profanity module 316). Depending on the embodiment, the eighth intermediate message that results from the profanity module 316 may be provided to another transformation module (in the transformation module 208) for further processing or the suggested replacement may be provided to the CTT control module 202 to determine if the message transformed by the profanity module 316 is in the data store 210. Following operation 618, the eighth intermediate message may be provided to the next operation of the transformation module 208 for processing. The method 600 may then end.

In accordance with some embodiments, the message that ultimately results from the transformation module 208 (e.g., the eighth intermediate message resulting from operation 618) may subsequently be used to query the translation data store 210 for a corresponding message, which can serve as a translation for the resulting message. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some instances, the message resulting from the transformation module 208 (e.g., message subsequently used in the query to the translation data store 210) may be the same as the initial message received (e.g., at operation 602) when no transformation has been applied to the initial message (e.g., the initial message passes through operations 604-618 without any transformations being applied).

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that various embodiments may perform more or less operations than the ones shown, may perform operations different from those shown, and may perform operations in a different order. Generally, the types of transformation operations performed, and the order in which they are performed, may be depend on transformation strategy employed by the embodiments. As noted herein, various embodiments may implement different transformation/translation strategies in achieving their respective translations, with certain strategies being well suited for particular translation applications or translation contexts. The transformation/translation strategy employed may determine which transformation operations are performed, when the transformation operations are performed, or in what order the transformation operations are performed. The transformation/translation strategy may also determine what translations are populated into a translation data stores, and when a translation data store is utilized in the overall transformation/translation process.

For some embodiments, the intermediate messages resulting from operations in the method 600 may have an impact and/or cascading effect on messages that result from subsequent operations in the method 600. Additionally, for some embodiments, when a chat message is processed by the method 600, each operation of method 600 may be performed on the chat message before the method concludes. Alternatively, for some embodiments, the method 600 may terminate early upon the performance of only a subset of the operations shown (e.g., after at least one operation results in a transformation of the chat message). According to some embodiments, the performance of each operation in flowchart 500 may be followed by a query to the translation data store 210 for a corresponding message in the desired language based on the latest resulting transformed message; in the event a corresponding message is identified, the method of flowchart 500 may terminate early.

For various embodiments, the method 600 may perform operations 604-612 in parallel. For example, the CTT control module 202 may submit the initial message to two or more operations 604-612 in parallel, and receive from each of those two or more operations a separate response. Each response may comprise a flagged text portion, a suggested replacement, or a word or phrase inserted into the initial message. Thereafter, the CTT control module 202 may select one of the received responses for subsequent processing (e.g., query a translation data store 210 or translating by the translation module 116), possibly according to a priority of selection (e.g., which can determine which transformed message is selected for further processing and according to what precedent).

For instance, during the method 600, the CTT control module 202 may submit an initial message to operation 604 for identifying chatspeak processing, operation 610 for common noun processing, and operation 616 for abbreviation processing. In response, operation 604 may return the initial message transformed for chatspeak, operation 610 may return the initial message unchanged, and operation 616 may return the initial message transformed for abbreviations. Subsequently, based on a priority of selection, the CTT control module 202 may select the transformed message returned from operation 616 for further processing.

For certain embodiments, a time limit may be enforced on performing various operations in the method 600. The time limit may cause a transformation operation of method 600 to stop performing if a response/result is not received before the time limit has expired. In doing so, various embodiments may ensure that certain transformation operations do not unnecessarily hinder the overall transformation/translation process.

Though the operations of the above method may be depicted and described in a certain order, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the order in which the operations are performed may vary between embodiments. Additionally, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the components described above with respect to the method of the flowchart 600 are merely examples of components that may be used with the method, and for some embodiments other components may also be utilized in some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating an example multi-lingual chat session, between chat client systems 104 (e.g., 104-1 and 104-2), in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the chat client system 104-1 may comprise a chat client GUI module 406-1, and the chat client system 104-2 may comprise a chat client GUI module 406-2. As described herein, each of the chat client GUI modules 406-1 and 406-2 may be configured to respectively provide users at chat client systems 104-1 and 104-2 with graphical input/output access to chat session shared between them. For some embodiments the chat client GUI modules 406-1 and 406-2 may present their respective user with a client GUI adapted for receiving user interactions with respect to the chat dialogue sent and received.

As chat dialogue 712 (represented by two-way arrow in FIG. 7) is passed between the chat client systems 104-1 and 104-2, the chat client GUI modules 406-1 and 406-2 may present the chat dialogue 712 in the language (implicitly or explicitly) chosen by the user at their respective chat client system 104-1 or 104-2. As shown, the chat client GUI module 406-1 may comprise a chat dialogue box 702 configured to present the chat dialogue 712 in a first language (e.g., English) in an output area 708 and to receive chat input in the first language in a second area 710. The chat client GUI module 406-2 may comprise a chat dialogue box 714 configured to present the chat dialogue 712 in a second language (e.g., French) in an output area 720 and to receive chat input in the second language in a second area 722. For some embodiments, when the chat dialogue 712 is presented in the dialogue boxes 702 and 714, it may include the presentation of usernames (e.g., user online identifier) associated with the users entering the chat messages in the chat dialogue 712.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 7, the language chosen for the chat client system 104-1 is English and the language chosen for the chat client system 104-2 is French. Accordingly, chat messages 704 (“LOL”) and 706 (“Who u laughin at?”) are presented in English in the dialogue box 702 of the chat client GUI module 406-1, while their respective counterpart chat messages 716 (“MDR”) and 718 (“Qui to fair rire?”) are presented in French in the dialogue box 714 of the chat client GUI module 406-2. The translation of the chat messages 704, 706, 716, and 718 may be facilitated through various systems and methods described herein. More regarding the translation of messages similar to chat messages 704, 706, 716, and 718 are discussed with respect to FIG. 8-10.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method 800 in accordance with various embodiments. As described below, for some embodiments, the method 800 may perform operations in connection with the chat client system 104-1, the chat client system 104-2, and the CTT system 114 (e.g., of the chart server 108). In particular, FIG. 8 illustrates the translation of an English chat message comprising the text “LOL” to a French chat message in accordance with some embodiments. Such a situation may arise when the language being used by the user at the first chat client system 104-1 is English and the language being used by the user at the second chat client system 104-2 is French. According to some embodiments, and the CTT system 114 may automatically detect these language choices/preferences for the chat client systems 104-1 and 104-2.

As shown, at operation 802, the first chat client system 104-1 may submit the English message for transmission to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., via the chat host system 112). The English message may be routed to the CTT control module 202 of the CTT system 114 for translation processing.

At operation 804, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a chat message that corresponds to the English chat message (“LOL”) and that is pre-translated to French. In response, at operation 806, the translation data store 210 may return to the CTT control module 202 a corresponding French message (“MDR”) that corresponds to the English chat message (“LOL”). Subsequently, at operation 808, the CTT control module 202 may assist in the transmission of the corresponding French chat message (“MDR”) to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., CTT system 114 submits the corresponding French chat message to the chat host system 112 for transmission).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method 900 in accordance with various embodiments. As described below, for some embodiments, the method illustrated by the flowchart 900 may perform operations in connection with the chat client system 104-1, the chat client system 104-2, the CTT system 114 (e.g., of the chart server 108), and the translation module 116 (e.g., of translation server 110). In particular, FIG. 9 illustrates the translation of an English chat message comprising the text “LOL” to a French equivalent chat message, in accordance with some embodiments. Unlike the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 8, FIG. 9 illustrates the usage of the transformation module 208 (e.g., of the CTT system 114) and the translation module 116.

As shown, at operation 902, the first chat client system 104-1 may submit the English chat message for transmission to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., via the chat host system 112) with a user that speaks French. The English chat message may be routed to the CTT control module 202 of the CTT system 114 for translation processing.

At operation 904, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the English chat message (“LOL). In response, at operation 906, the translation data store 210 may return a query failure to the CTT control module 202 to indicate that the translation data store 210 does not have a corresponding French chat message for the English chat message (“LOL”). If such is the case, at operation 908, the CTT control module 202 may submit the English chat message to the transformation module 208 for transformation processing in accordance with certain embodiments. As described herein, the transformation module 208 may comprise multiple transformation-related modules 932 configured to transform a chat message to a message more suitable for further translation processing.

At operation 910, the chatspeak module 302 of the transformation module 208 may transform the English chat message (“LOL”) to the transformed English chat message (“laugh out loud”), and may return the transformed English chat message to the CTT control module 202 for further processing. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, for some embodiments, the English chat message may be processed by additional modules of the transformation module 208 before the transformed English chat message is returned to the CTT control module 202.

At operation 912, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the transformed English chat message (“laugh out loud”). In response, at operation 914, the translation data store 210 may return a query failure to the CTT control module 202 to indicate that the translation data store 210 does not have a corresponding French chat message for the transformed English chat message (“laugh out loud”). If such is the case, at operation 916, the CTT control module 202 may submit the transformed English chat message to the translation module 116 for machine translation processing in accordance with certain embodiments.

At operation 918, the translation module 116 may return a machine-translated French chat message (“mort de rire”) that corresponds to the transformed English chat message. The resulting machine-translated French chat message (“mort de rire”) is an example of a transformed translation of an English chatspeak chat message (“LOL”).

At operation 920, the CTT control module 202 may submit the machine-translated French chat message (“mort de rire”) to the transformation module 208 for further transformation processing of the machine-translated French chat message in accordance with certain embodiments. As noted herein, the machine-translated text may be submitted for further transformation processing to further refine the French translation. For example, if the original English chat message contained English chatspeak, the additional transformation processing can add, to the extent possible, French chatspeak. Accordingly, at operation 922, the chatspeak module 302 of the transformation module 208 may transform the machine-translated French chat message (“mort de rire”) to the transformed French chat message (“MDR”), and may return the transformed French chat message to the CTT control module 202 for further processing.

Eventually, at operation 924, the CTT control module 202 may assist in the transmission of the corresponding French chat message (“MDR”) to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., CTT system 114 submits the corresponding French chat message to the chat host system 112 for transmission). Additionally, at operation 926, the CTT control module 202 may store a translation mapping in the translation data store 210 of the transformed translation between the original English chat message (“LOL”) and the translated French chat message (“MDR”). Once the mapping is stored in the translation data store 210, it may be used to store translation entries to speed up future translations, e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 8. As noted herein, the translation data store 210 may store mappings of transformed translations and untransformed translations.

For some embodiments, the CTT control module 202 may also store equivalent (transformed and untransformed) translation mappings determined during the operation of the method 900. For certain embodiments, the translation mappings may be between chat message that were not original located in the translation data store 210 (e.g., the chat message shown for operation 904, and the chat message shown for operation 912) and a corresponding message determined during operations subsequent to the translation data store 210 lookups (e.g., a mapping between a query to the translation data store 210 that returns no result and a corresponding chat message determined after the query, by way of the transformation module 208 and/or the translation module 116).

For instance, as shown in FIG. 9, the CTT control module 202 queries the translation data store 210 for original English chat message (“LOL” at operation 904 and the transformed English chat message (“laugh out loud”) at operation 912, both of which resulted in the CTT control module 202 receiving no results from the translation data store 210 (at operations 906 and 914, respectively). However, at operation 916, the CTT control module 202 eventually submits the transformed English message (“laugh out loud”) to the machine translation module 116 for machine translation and receives, in response the machine-translated French chat message (“mort de rire”) at operation 918. Accordingly, at operation 928, the CTT control module 202 may store a translation mapping in the translation data store 210 of the transformed translation between the original English chat message (“LOL”) and the machine-translated French chat message (“mort de rire”). Likewise, at operation 930, the CTT control module 202 may store a translation mapping in the translation data store 210 of the transformed translation between the transformed English chat message (“laugh out loud”) and the machine-translated French chat message (“mort de rire”). In doing so, next time method 900 queries the translation data store 210 for the original English chat message (“LOL”) or the transformed English chat message (“laugh out loud”), the translation data store 210 will provide the corresponding transformed translations.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method 1000 in accordance with various embodiments. As described below, for some embodiments, the method 1000 may perform operations in connection with the chat client system 104-1, the chat client system 104-2, the CTT system 114 (e.g., of the chart server 108), and the translation module 116 (e.g., of the translation server 110). In particular, FIG. 10 illustrates the translation of an English chat message comprising the text “Who u laughin at?” to a French chat message, in accordance with some embodiments.

As shown, at operation 1002, the first chat client system 104-1 may submit the English chat message for transmission to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., via the chat host system 112). The English chat message may be routed to the CTT control module 202 of the CTT system 114 for translation processing.

At operation 1004, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”). In response, at operation 1006, the translation data store 210 may return a query failure to the CTT control module 202 to indicate that the translation data store 210 does not have a corresponding French chat message for the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”). If such is the case, at operation 1008, the CTT control module 202 may submit the English chat message to the transformation module 208 for transformation processing in accordance with certain embodiments. As described herein, the transformation module 208 may comprise multiple transformation-related modules 1036 configured to transform a chat message to a message more suitable for further translation processing.

At operation 1010, the chatspeak module 302 of the transformation module 208 may transform the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”) to the transformed English chat message (“Who you laughin at?”), and pass on the transformed English chat message to additional modules of the transformation module 208 for further processing, such as the spelling check module 312.

As discussed herein, various modules of transformation module 208, including the chatspeak module 302, may be configured to identify one or more words or phrases in a chat message and suggest replacement words or phrases for the identified words or phrases. Accordingly, those skilled in the art would appreciate that for some embodiments, the transformation performed/suggested by a module of transformation module 208 may involve a word-to-phrase or a phrase-to-phrase transformation of the chat message. For example, at operation 1010, the chatspeak module 302 may alternatively transform the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”) to the transformed English chat message (“Who are you laughing at?”), possibly by replacing/suggesting the replacement of the phrase “who u” with “who are you” during the transformation (followed by the replacement/suggestion of the replacing the word “laughin” with “laughing”). In doing so, various modules of the transformation module 208, such as the chatspeak module 302, may provide grammatical improvements to their respective transformations, while possibly obviating the need for a separate module in the transformation module 208 to implement grammar improvements.

For some embodiments, before the transformed English chat message is passed on to additional modules of the transformation module 208, the chatspeak module 302 may pass on the transformed English chat message to the CTT control module 202 at operation 1010. In turn, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 (at operation 1012) for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the transformed English chat message (“Who you laughin at?”). In response, at operation 1014, the translation data store 210 may return a query failure to the CTT control module 202 to indicate that the translation data store 210 does not have a corresponding French chat message for the transformed English chat message (“Who you laughin at?”).

At operation 1016, the spelling check module 312 may perform a spell check process on the transformed English chat message (“Who you laughin at?”) at operation 1018. During the spell check process, the spelling check module 312 may correct the transformed English chat message to a corrected English chat message (“Who you laughing at?”), and may return the corrected English chat message to the CTT control module 202. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for some embodiments, the corrected English chat message may processed by additional modules of the transformation module 208 before the transformed English chat message is returned to the CTT control module 202.

At operation 1020, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the corrected English chat message (“Who you laughing at?”). In response, at operation 1022, the translation data store 210 may return a query failure to the CTT control module 202 to indicate that the translation data store 210 does not have a corresponding French chat message for the corrected English chat message (“Who you laughing at?”). If such is the case, at operation 1024, the CTT control module 202 may submit the corrected English chat message to the translation module 116 for machine translation processing in accordance with certain embodiments.

At operation 1026, the translation module 116 may return a machine-translated French chat message (“Qui te fait rire?”) that corresponds to the corrected English chat message. At operation 1028, the CTT control module 202 may submit the machine-translated French chat message (“Qui te fait rire?”) to the transformation module 208 for further transformation processing of the machine-translated French chat message in accordance with certain embodiments.

As noted herein, the machine-translated text may be submitted for further transformation processing to further refine the translation of the text. For example, if the original English chat message contained English chatspeak, the additional transformation processing can add, to the extent possible, French chatspeak. At operation 1030, the transformation module 208 may return the machine-translated French chat message (“Qui te fait rire?”) unchanged to the CTT control module 202 for further processing (e.g., when the modules of the transformation module 208 do not apply any changes to the machine-translated French chat message).

At operation 1032, the CTT control module 202 may assist in the transmission of the machine-translated French chat message (“Qui te fait rire?”) to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., CTT system 114 submits the corresponding French chat message to the chat host system 112 for transmission). Additionally, at operation 1034, the CTT control module 202 may store a translation mapping in the translation data store 210 between the original English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”) and the translated French chat message (“Qui te fait rire?”). As described herein, in additional operations (not shown), the CTT control module 202 may also store equivalent translation mappings in the translation data store 210 based on previously failed queries to the translation data store 210 and corresponding messages determined subsequent to those queries (e.g., similar to operations 928 and 930 in FIG. 9).

According to some embodiments, the transformation operations performed by the transformation module 208 may comprise performing certain transformation operations in parallel, and perform certain transformation operations in serial. The order in which transformation operations are performed in parallel and in serial may vary between various embodiments. As described herein, where the transformation operations are performed in parallel, some embodiments may employ a priority of selection to determine which transformed message is selected for further processing and according to what precedent.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating operation of an example multi-lingual communication method 1100 in accordance with various embodiments. As described below, for some embodiments, the method 1100 may perform operations in connection with the chat client system 104-1, the chat client system 104-2, the CTT system 114 (e.g., of the chart server 108), and the translation module 116 (e.g., of the translation server 110). In particular, FIG. 11 illustrates the translation of an English chat message comprising the text “Who u laughin at?” to a French chat message by parallel transformation operations, in accordance with some embodiments.

As shown, at operation 1102, the first chat client system 104-1 may submit the English chat message for transmission to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., via the chat host system 112). The English chat message may be routed to the CTT control module 202 of the CTT system 114 for translation processing.

At operation 1104, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”). In response, at operation 1106, the translation data store 210 may return a query failure to the CTT control module 202 to indicate that the translation data store 210 does not have a corresponding French chat message for the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”).

If such is the case, the CTT control module 202 may submit the English chat message to the transformation module 208 for transformation processing in accordance with certain embodiments. As described herein, the transformation module 208 may comprise multiple transformation-related modules 1130 configured to transform a chat message to a message more suitable for further translation processing. As shown in FIG. 11, during operations 1108, the CTT control module 202 may submit the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”), in parallel, to two or more transformation-related modules 1130 of the transformation module 208. Additionally, during operations 1108, the CTT control module 202 may be receiving results from the transformation-related modules 1130 in parallel, and submitting queries to the translation data store 210, based on the transformation results, in parallel.

Accordingly, at operation 1110 a, the CTT control module 202 may submit the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”) to the chatspeak module 302 for transformation processing. In parallel, at operation 1110 b, the CTT control module 202 may submit the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”) to the spelling check module 312 for transformation processing. Subsequently, the CTT control module 202 may receive a first transformed English chat message (“Who you laughin at?”) from the chatspeak module 302 at operation 1112 a, while at operation 1112 b the CTT control module 202 may receive a second transformed English chat message (“Who u laughing at?”) from the spelling check module 312. Depending on their respective transformation processing times, the chatspeak module 302, the spelling check module 312, and the other transformation-related modules 1130 may respond to the CTT control module 202 in serial or in parallel with respect to one another.

Subsequently, at operation 1114 a, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the first transformed English chat message (“Who you laughin at?”). At operation 1114 b, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 for a French equivalent chat message that corresponds to the second transformed English chat message (“Who u laughing at?”). For some embodiments, during operations 1114 a and 1114 b, the CTT control module 202 may query the translation data store 210 in serial or in parallel. In some embodiments, the timings of the queries may depend on when the transformation-related modules 1130 of the transformation module 208 return their respective responses. As shown in FIG. 11, the translation data store 210 may return a query failure (e.g., <FAIL>) for the queries at operations 1116 a and 1116 b.

Eventually, the CTT control module 202 may select one transformed message, from the two or more messages that result from the parallel operations 1108, for further processing. Where only one of the transformation-related modules 1130 results in a transformed message, the CTT control module 202 may select that particular transformed message for further processing. As noted herein, the CTT control module 202 may select a transformed message based on a priority of selection, which may be determined according to the transformation/translation strategy selected by the embodiments. For some embodiments, the priority of selection may be based on whether the transformed message has the most formal content, the transformed message has the most transformations, or the transformed message results from a transformation-related module known for having a high likelihood of producing a transformed message suitable for machine-translation.

Once a transformed message has been selected, at operation 1118, the CTT control module 202 may submit the transformed English chat message to the translation module 116 for machine translation processing in accordance with certain embodiments. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the CTT control module 202 may select the first transformed English chat message produced by the chatspeak module 302 (“Who you laughin at?”) for submission to the translation module 116.

At operation 1120, the translation module 116 may return a machine-translated French chat message (“Qui to fait rire?”) that corresponds to the first transformed English chat message (and despite comprising the misspelled word “laughin”). At operation 1122, the CTT control module 202 may submit the machine-translated French chat message (“Qui to fait rire?”) to the transformation module 208 for further transformation processing of the machine-translated French chat message in accordance with certain embodiments.

As noted herein, the machine-translated text may be submitted for further transformation processing to further refine the translation of the text. For example, if the original English chat message contained English chatspeak, the additional transformation processing can add, to the extent possible, French chatspeak. At operation 1124, the transformation module 208 may return the machine-translated French chat message (“Qui to fait rire?”) unchanged to the CTT control module 202 for further processing (e.g., when the modules of the transformation module 208 do not apply any changes to the machine-translated French chat message).

At operation 1126, the CTT control module 202 may assist in the transmission of the machine-translated French chat message (“Qui to fait rire?”) to the second chat client system 104-2 (e.g., CTT system 114 submits the corresponding French chat message to the chat host system 112 for transmission). Additionally, at operation 1128, the CTT control module 202 may store a translation mapping in the translation data store 210 between the original English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”) and the translated French chat message (“Qui to fait rire?”). As described herein, in additional operations (not shown), the CTT control module 202 may also store equivalent translation mappings in the translation data store 210 based on previously failed queries to the translation data store 210 and corresponding messages determined subsequent to those queries (e.g., similar to operations 928 and 930 in FIG. 9).

For some embodiments, the transformation operations may be performed in a hybrid serial/parallel arrangement, whereby some transformation operations are performed in parallel and other transformation operations are performed in serial. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the English chat message (“Who u laughin at?”) is submitted to the chatspeak module 302 and spelling check module 312 in parallel at operations 1110 a and 1110 b. Subsequently, once one of the resulting transformed messages is selected (e.g., based on a priority of selection), the other transformation-related modules 1130 of the transformation module 208 (e.g., the acronym module 304, the proper noun module 306, and the common noun module 308) may operate on the selected transformed message in parallel.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example digital device 1200. The digital device 1200 comprises a processor 1202, a memory system 1204, a storage system 1206, a communication network interface 1208, an I/O interface 1210, and a display interface 1212 communicatively coupled to a bus 1214. The processor 1202 is configured to execute executable instructions (e.g., programs). In some embodiments, the processor 1202 comprises circuitry or any processor capable of processing the executable instructions.

The memory system 1204 is any memory configured to store data. Some examples of the memory system 1204 are storage devices, such as RAM or ROM. The memory system 1204 can comprise the ram cache. In various embodiments, data is stored within the memory system 1204. The data within the memory system 1204 may be cleared or ultimately transferred to the storage system 1206.

The storage system 1206 is any storage configured to retrieve and store data. Some examples of the storage system 1206 are flash drives, hard drives, optical drives, and/or magnetic tape. In some embodiments, the digital device 1200 includes a memory system 1204 in the form of RAM and a storage system 1206 in the form of flash data. Both the memory system 1204 and the storage system 1206 comprise computer readable media which may store instructions or programs that are executable by a computer processor including the processor 1202.

The communications network interface (com. network interface) 1208 can be coupled to a network (e.g., the computer network 106) via the link 1216. The communication network interface 1208 may support communication over an Ethernet connection, a serial connection, a parallel connection, or an ATA connection, for example. The communication network interface 1208 may also support wireless communication (e.g., 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiMax). It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the communication network interface 1208 can support many wired and wireless standards.

The optional input/output (I/O) interface 1210 is any device that receives input from the user and output data. The optional display interface 1212 is any device that is configured to output graphics and data to a display. In one example, the display interface 1212 is a graphics adapter.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the hardware elements of the digital device 1200 are not limited to those depicted in FIG. 12. A digital device 1200 may comprise more or less hardware elements than those depicted. Further, hardware elements may share functionality and still be within various embodiments described herein. In one example, encoding and/or decoding may be performed by the processor 1202 and/or a co-processor located on a GPU (i.e., Nvidia®).

The above-described functions and components can be comprised of instructions that are stored on a storage medium such as a computer readable medium. The instructions can be retrieved and executed by a processor. Some examples of instructions are software, program code, and firmware. Some examples of storage medium are memory devices, tape, disks, integrated circuits, and servers. The instructions are operational when executed by the processor to direct the processor to operate in accord with some embodiments. Those skilled in the art are familiar with instructions, processor(s), and storage medium.

Various embodiments are described herein as examples. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made and other embodiments can be used without departing from the broader scope of the invention(s) presented herein. These and other variations upon the example embodiments are intended to be covered by the present invention(s).

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an example user feedback system in accordance with various embodiments. For illustrative purposes, in FIG. 13 the example system for user feedback is shown as part of an example communication transformation and translation (CTT) system 1300 in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the example user feedback system may be part of a chat translation system employed by various multi-lingual chat systems, including game chat systems available in conjunction with MMO games (e.g., in-game chat system). With use of the example user feedback system, various players of the MMO game may choose to provide user feedback, for example through the in-game chat system, for flagged words or phrases, possibly in return for in-game currency/credit/item as an incentive for the feedback/approved feedback. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for some embodiments, the example user feedback system, and some or all of its related components, may be separate and/or independent from the example communication transformation and translation system 1300.

As used herein, “feedback” should be understood to refer to “user feedback” or “user feedback response,” possibly in response to a query requesting feedback for a transformation or a translation. It should also be understood that that user feedback can comprise user feedback for a transformation or user feedback for a translation. User feedback may comprise a definition for a given word or phrase that: (i) permits the given word or phrase to be transformed from the given word or phrase in a first language to a corresponding word or phrase in the (same) first language; (ii) permits the given word or phrase to be transformed from the given word or phrase in the first language to a corresponding word or phrase in a (different) second language, thereby performing a transformed translation of the word or phrase; and/or (iii) permits the given word or phrase to be translated from a first language to a second language, thereby performing a untransformed translation of the word or phrase. As described herein, a user feedback response may be received in response to a query requesting user feedback in connection with a translation failure.

As used herein, a “failure of translation” or a “translation failure” may be understood to include an actual failure to translate a text (e.g., translated text is identical to the original text), or text translations that are flagged as potentially containing a translation failure (e.g., flagged by a user reading a translated text and believing the translated text contains questionable or incorrect translation).

As shown in FIG. 13, the CTT system 1300 may comprise a communication transformation and translation (CTT) control module 1302, a communication transformation and translation (CTT) communications module 1304, a language module 1306, a transformation module 1308, a translation data stores 1310, and a translation application programming interface (API) module 1312, In some embodiments, the CTT control module 1302, the CTT communications module 1304, the language module 1306, the transformation module 1308, the translation data stores 1310, and the translation API module 1312 may be similar to the components of the CTT system 114 as described herein.

As also shown in FIG. 13, the CTT system 1300 may comprise a translation failure management module 1314, a user feedback (UF) query generation module 1316, a user feedback (UF) query audience selection module 1318, a query/response valuation module 1320, a query application program interface (API) module 1322, a response evaluation module 1324, a translation data store update module 1326, an audience competence evaluation module 1328, and an incentive reward module 1330.

The translation failure management module 1314 may be configured to facilitate management of translation failures (e.g., failure to translate a text from a first language to a second language). For some embodiments, the translation failure management module 1314 may be adapted to handle one or more translation failures that may be experienced by the CTT system 1300 as the system 1300 attempts to translate a chat message sent from a first user, who is using a first language during their chat sessions, to a second user, who is using a second language during their chat session. As described herein, the text to be translated by the CTT system 1300 may be chat messages, which may comprise chatspeak, abbreviates, colloquialisms, idioms, and the like. It will be understood that during transformation or translation of a chat message, some or all of the chat messages may result in translation failure, possibly due to the inability of the CTT system 1300 to transform and/or translate those failure causing portions of the chat message.

Features provided by the translation failure management module 1314 may include, without limitation: automatically detecting when a failure to translation of text has occurred; automatically detecting when certain words or phrases of a text are untranslatable; enabling a user to flag some or all of a “translated” text as containing actual or potential translation errors after a translation process; managing what translations failures are selected for user feedback from various audience members (e.g., chat members, such as players using an in-game chat system); managing what words or phrases associated with a translation failure are selected for user feedback (e.g., based on how often the word is encountered/used in text to be translated); and managing when a translation failure is no longer a candidate for selection for user feedback (e.g., words or phrases associated with a translation failure are removed from the selection pool).

In various embodiments, the translation failure management module 1314 may manage the overall availability of words or phrases for user feedback by audience members. As used herein, a “user feedback opportunity” may comprise a word or phrase available for user feedback by an audience member. The translation failure management module 1314 may throttle or suspend availability of one or more user feedback opportunities based on various conditions, such as the availability of computing resources for user feedback, incentives rewarded in connection with user feedback, quality of feedback response received in the past, and the like. For instance, it may be determined that continuing to reward incentives (e.g., in-game currency or in-game item) for approved user feedback responses may negatively impact the economy relating to the incentive (e.g., the in-game economy). Accordingly, some embodiments may (temporarily) suspend the availability of user feedback opportunities that reward the incentives, or adjust the incentives rewarded (e.g., amount of incentive or type of incentive) for user feedback opportunities when those embodiments detect that the current inventive strategy is harmful to an economy of concern (e.g., in-game economy).

As described herein, an audience member from which user feedback is solicited may be one who has volunteered to provide such feedback, possibly as a participant in a user feedback program and/or in return for an incentive when their submitted feedback has been approved (e.g., as being correct, accepted, or useful in defining a transformation or translation). For some embodiments, the user feedback systems described herein may be part of a game system, such as an online MMO game, where the audience members are game players that choose to otherwise participate in user feedback opportunities, possibly for incentives useful in the game system (e.g., in-game currency or in-game items). In this way, the user feedback system may be presented as a game feature that game playing audience member regard as a “game” to be “played” for a reward, thereby leveraging the competition inherent to the gaming environments. More regarding selection of audience members is described with respect to the UF query audience selection module 1318.

As described herein, a word or phrase may be flagged by a communications system user that believes that the word or phrase of concern is preventing a translation or causing an inaccurate translation of communicated text. For example, in a multi-lingual multi-user chat system associated with an online game, a game player may flag an entire chat message they have received, or flag certain portions of the chat message (e.g., word or phrase thereof), as potentially having a translation problem or failure. Words or phrases associated with a translation failure may include, for example, specialized/domain-related jargon, abbreviations, acronyms, proper nouns, common nouns, diminutives, colloquial words or phrases, and profane words or phrases. Additionally, the word or phrase may be flagged by a system or method that automatically detects the word or phrase as being untranslatable, possibly preventing translation of larger phrases or sentences.

The translation management module 1314 may be responsible for selecting a word or phrase as being the subject of a user feedback, where the selected word or phrase may be flagged as being associated with an actual or potential failure to translate text from a first language to a second language. The translation management module 1314 may select a word or phrase based on a number of factors, some of which include the current importance of the word or phrase in translations (e.g., importance based on overall usage of the word or phrase), complexity of the word or phrase (e.g., difficulty of the word or phrase, or how long the word or phrase has been an issue), the competency of the user selected/volunteering to provide user feedback (e.g., the user has competency in the second language), and a preference of the user selected/volunteering to provide user feedback. Those skilled in the art will appreciate other factors for selecting words or phrases for user feedback may be utilized by various embodiments.

For various embodiments, users selected to provide user feedback may be ones volunteering to provide such feedback. For instance, a user may choose to provide user feedback by setting an associated user preference, by selecting an in-chat system advertisement that is soliciting user feedback, and/or browsing through a section that lists one or more user feedback opportunities available for selection.

As noted herein, the translation failure management 1314 may manage when a particular word or phrase that is associated with an actual or potential translation failure is no longer a candidate for selection for user feedback by audience members. Various conditions can lead the translation failure management 1314 to make such a determination including, for instance: when a specific number of feedback responses has been received in connection with the certain word or phrase or with the associated translation failure; when a specific number of consistent feedback responses has been received in connection with the certain word or phrase or with the associated translation failure; and when a given feedback response has been approved as a valid response for the user feedback sought (e.g., a specific response from a set of unique feedback responses has been manually approved by an administrator as a correct response).

The UF query generation module 1316 may be configured to generate a query for obtaining user feedback, from a selected audience member, for a given word or phrase selected for user feedback. As described herein, the audience member selected may be a user who has volunteered to provide user feedback, possibly in return for an incentive when the user feedback submitted has been approved as being correct, an accepted feedback response, or useful in refining a translation in question. More regarding selection of audience members is described with respect to the UF query audience selection module 1318.

For some embodiments, the query generated may include one or more methods of receiving a query response from the selected audience member. For example, the generated query may include, as a response method, a listing of predefined responses from which the audience member can select as their response to the generated query (also referred to herein as a “select-form response”). In another example, the generated query may include, as a response method, one or more fields configured to receive as their response to the generated query, a text value entered into a field by the audience member. (also referred to herein as a “free-form response”) Other response methods may include a graphical user interface (GUI) elements, text values, or some combination thereof.

The one or more response methods included in the generated query may be according to a number of factors including, for example: a preference of the audience member; the importance and/or complexity of the word or phrase for which user feedback is sought; the number of feedback responses received thus far for the word or phrase for which user feedback is sought; the number of consistent feedback responses received thus far for the word or phrase for which user feedback is sought; and whether there is enough free-form feedback responses from which to create a selection-form response. For some embodiments, the audience member to respond to the generated query can select from two or more response methods for the generated query.

Additionally, the languages for which an audience member is presented user feedback opportunities may be according to a number of factors including, for example: whether the audience member is multi-lingual by monitoring the audience member's chat history; whether the audience member language abilities meet or exceed a particular language confidence level; and a language setting on the user device the audience member is using to participate in a user feedback opportunity (e.g., default language setting for the audience member's device). For example, where the default device language of an audience member's device is German and he or she selects to participate in a user feedback opportunity, the query generated and sent to the audience member will based on the German language (e.g., query for defining an English word or phrase to a German word or phrase, or vice versa). For some embodiments, the generated query may provide an audience member with an option to select the language of the response to be submitted (e.g., when the generated query does not specify or require a specific language) and/or with an option to provide more two or more responses with each response possibly being of a different language. For some such embodiments, the audience member may be presented with language response options according to various language factors discussed herein, such as whether the audience member is multi-lingual and a language setting on the user device of the audience member.

The UF query audience selection module 1318 may be configured to select an audience member from which to solicit user feedback. In some embodiments, the UF query audience selection module 1318 may select the audience member from a pool of audience members who have volunteered to provide user feedback, possibly in return of incentive (which may be received when the user feedback is approved/accepted). As described herein, an audience member may volunteer to participate in translation, at which time the audience member may be included in the pool of audience members from which the UF query audience selection module 1318 selects for user feedback solicitation. In some embodiments, when the UF query audience selection module 1318 selects an audience member, the audience member may be provided with a query generated by the UF query generation module 1316 to obtain user feedback. The query generated by the UF query generation module 1316 may be provided to the audience member selected, by the UF query audience selection module 1318, as part of a listing of user feedbacks available for participation by the selected audience member. Once the generated query is provided to the selected audience member, the selected audience member may initiate a user feedback session in which the generated query is presented to the audience member (e.g., with one or more response methods associated with the generated query) and the selected audience member can provide one or more responses (e.g., by way of one or more response methods included with the generated query).

Depending on the embodiment, where a word or phrase is selected for user feedback before the audience member is selected, the audience member may be selected from a set of candidate audience members based on the selected word or phrase (e.g., whether the selected word or phrase matches the competency or preferences of the audience member). Alternatively, where the audience member is selected before the word or selected is selected for user feedback, the word or phrase selected may be based according to the audience member that is selected. The competency of a given audience member may be determined based on one or more feedback responses previously provided by the given audience member (e.g., in connection with previous queries generated and provided to the given audience member) and/or one or more language capabilities of the audience member. An audience member, for example, may be evaluated to have requisite competency to provide user feedback for one or more words or phrases associated with a translation failure when the audience member has achieved a specific number of approved feedback responses. In another example, an audience member may be evaluated to have competency in a specific language based on at least previously submitted feedback responses for a specific language, the preferences of the audience member, and/or information related to the audience member that indicates their fluency in the specific language. In a further example, an audience member who has previously submitted feedback responses that were evaluated as being incorrect or fraudulent (e.g., nonsensical or fabricated responses) may be determined to have lower competency.

For some embodiments, once a given audience member has provided a response in connection with a word or phrase (and the response is possibly approved), the given audience member may not be re-selected for providing user feedback for the same word or phrase. Certain embodiments may make an exception to this restriction when the given audience member provides a response in a language that is different from the language of a response previously submitted for the same word or phrase.

Where incentives are provided in return for user feedback (e.g., upon approval of a feedback response), various embodiments may select audience members based on a quota, such as a time-based quota (e.g., hourly, daily, monthly, yearly limit for submitting feedback responses) or an incentives-earned quota (e.g., limit of in-game currency or items awarded for incentive-based user feedback), where the quota is associated with individual audience members, groups of audience members, or some combination thereof. For some embodiments, the UF query audience selection module 1318 may throttle or suspend availability of user feedback opportunities to one or more audience members based on various conditions, such as the availability of computing resources for user feedback, incentives rewarded in connection with user feedback, quality of feedback response received in the past, and the like.

The query/response (QR) valuation module 1320 may be configured to determine the value or importance of a query or query response based on the word or phrase for which the query or query response is soliciting user feedback. Example of factors considered by various embodiments when determining the value a query or a query response may include the complexity of the word or phrase (e.g., higher the complexity, higher the value), the importance of the word or phrase to transformation/translation processes (e.g., higher the importance, higher the value), the response method employed by the query or query response (e.g., higher value for a free-form response method over a selection-form response method), the type of word or phrase (e.g., chatspeak, abbreviation, or colloquial), or the one or more languages involved (e.g., a query comprising an English word or phrase and that receives a French response has higher value than a query comprising an English word or phrase that receives an English response). In some embodiments, an incentive rewarded for a given user feedback may be based on the value associated with the query or query response. For some embodiments, the QR valuation module 1320 may be configured to determine a value for a query or query response based on the efficacy of previous queries or query responses in soliciting beneficial, useful, or accurate user feedback. Accordingly, for some embodiments, the value may be dynamically adjusted based on the latest efficacy of achieved by previous queries or query responses. In certain embodiments, the QR valuation module 1320 may enable an administrator (e.g., of the CTT system 1300) or another authorized user to manually assign or adjust values for queries and/or query responses in connection with one or more user feedback.

The query API module 1322 may be configured to facilitate transmitting user feedback queries to selected audience members and/or receiving query responses from selected audience members. In some embodiments, the query API 1322 may be adapted to provide a listing of available user feedback opportunities available to the selected audience member, provide queries relating to one or more the user feedback opportunities selected by the selected audience member, receiving responses for one or more the user feedback opportunities selected by the selected audience member, and/or providing the selected audience member with the current status of query responses submitted for approval thus far (e.g., status of approved, rejected, or pending/awaiting approval). For some embodiments, the query API 1322 may obtain one or preferences associated with a given audience member, possibly from a chat client system being used by the given audience member to interact with the CTT system 1300. As noted herein, a preference associated with an audience member can determine selection of the word or phrase for which user feedback is solicited from the audience member, and/or can determine of whether the audience member is selected to receive a query for user feedback of a given word or phrase.

The response evaluation module 1324 may be configured to evaluate a query response submitted in connection with a query generated to obtain a user feedback. For some embodiments, the response evaluation module 1324 may evaluate query responses in one or more phases.

During a validation phase, the response evaluation module 1324 may disposition one or more unique responses, submitted for a given generated query, as approved or rejected for the given generated query. In some embodiments, a unique response, submitted in connection with a generated query to obtain user feedback, may be considered pending approval until such time as the unique response has been approved as being valid for the word or phrase associated with the generated query, or rejected as being invalid for the word or phrase associated with the generated query. As used herein, a given “unique response,” may include a set of responses similar but not exactly identical in syntax (e.g., different punctuation or spacing); a given unique response may be received by way of two or more response methods. A unique response is also referred to herein as a “unique query response” and a “unique user feedback response.” Depending on the embodiment, more than one unique query response may be approved for a given generated query. For instance, more than one unique response may be approved as defining a given word or phrase in connection with user feedback that being sought. Responses may, for example, be manually validated by an administrator, or the like, who reviews and dispositions the responses (e.g., possibly only the unique responses). Additionally, or alternatively, responses may be validated by an automatic process, which may approve and/or reject submitted responses based on their count and/or the thresholds associated with response counts. In some embodiments, an automatic validation process may filter the top submitted responses for a given word or phrase, and provide those top submitted responses to an administrator, or the like, for review and disposition. The validation phase may be performed by the response evaluation module 1324 periodically (e.g., based on a schedule) or based on a condition (e.g., where the number of submitted responses pending approval has met or exceeded a threshold).

For some embodiments, where a plurality unique user feedback responses (e.g., definitions) are provided for a given word or phrase, the response evaluation module 1324 may automatically (and/or through manual admin input) approve the top ranked unique user feedback response (e.g., most popular response) from the plurality, but may only do so if that top ranked unique user feedback response is statistically significant. For instance, where a first unique user feedback response was received twenty-six times for a given word, and a second unique user feedback response was received twenty-four times for the same given word, the first unique user feedback response may not be approved as the response for the given word, even if it is the top ranked unique user feedback response for the given word. This is because twenty-six is not statistically significant over twenty-four. The first unique user feedback may not be selected until, for example, the first unique user feedback response remains the top ranked unique user feedback response and the response count reaches forty.

Given that phrases may be not be identical but may be similar in nature and convey the same intent, for some embodiments, a word error rate (WER) may be used to group unique user feedback responses that comprise a phrase. For two phrases, WER may measure the substitutions, deletions, and insertions of words to convey similarity between the phrases.

For various embodiments, where a plurality unique user feedback responses (e.g., definitions) are provided for a given phrase, the response evaluation module 1324 may automatically (and/or through manual admin input) approve the top ranked unique user feedback response, but may only

During a check phase, the response evaluation module 1324 may determine whether a response submitted by an audience member has been disposition as approved, rejected, or pending review (e.g., pending approval). For some embodiments, a data store may maintain the status of whether a unique response submitted by audience members, in connection with a given word or phrase, has been approved or rejected as a valid definition for the given word or phrase. Accordingly, the check phase may determine the disposition of a response submitted for a given word or phrase by consulting with the data store that maintains the disposition status of unique responses previously submitted for the given words or phrase; the submitted response shares the disposition status of the unique response that corresponds with the submitted response. Depending on the embodiment, the check phase for a submitted response may be performed immediately or soon after the response has been submitted. Where a submitted response is determined to be still pending review during a check phase, the check phase may be re-performed at a later time, possibly following a validation phase that causes the status of the identical or similar submitted responses to be affected. The status of the submitted response may be updated according to the current disposition of the submitted response as determined during the check phase. As described herein, the current status of one or more responses submitted by a given audience member may be provided as a listing that reflects the current statuses for those responses. More regarding response status is discussed later with respect to FIG. 28.

The response evaluation module 1324 evaluation of the response may comprise determining whether the response is approved. The response may be approved based on at least one previous response provided by another person in response to another query, the other query being previously generated to obtain feedback for the word or phrase from the other person. The response may be approved once the response is determined to accurately define the word or phrase.

The translation data store update module 1326 may be configured to update a transformation or a translation (e.g., stored in the translation data store 210), possibly based on the evaluation of a response submitted, by a selected audience member, for a user feedback query. For example, where a submitted response in a first language is determined, during response evaluation, as being an approved definition for a given word in the (same) first language, a transformation mapping the given word in the first language to the response in the first language will be added or updated accordingly. In another example, where a submitted response in a second language is determined, during response evaluation, as being an approved definition for a given word in the first language, a transformation mapping the given word in the first language to the response in the second language will be added or updated accordingly. The update of transformations or translations may be performed by the translation data store update module 1326 during or subsequent to a check phase that results in the disposition of a submitted response changing to approved.

The audience competence evaluation module 1328 may be configured to determine the competence of an audience member, which may be indicative of the level of confidence associated with the audience member ability to provide accurate and/or useful user feedback responses. As described herein, the competency of a given audience member may be determined based on one or more feedback responses previously provided by the given audience member (e.g., in connection with previous queries generated and provided to the given audience member) and/or one or more language capabilities of the audience member. An audience member, for example, may be evaluated to have requisite competency to provide user feedback for one or more words or phrases associated with a translation failure when the audience member has achieved a specific number of approved feedback responses. In another example, an audience member may be evaluated to have competency in a specific language based on at least previously submitted feedback responses for a specific language, the preferences of the audience member, and/or information related to the audience member that indicates their fluency in the specific language. In a further example, an audience member who has previously submitted feedback responses that were evaluated as being incorrect or fraudulent (e.g., gibberish responses) may be determined to have lower competency.

The incentive reward module 1330 may be configured to reward an audience member with an incentive based on the evaluation of a response submitted, by the audience member, in connection with a query for user feedback. As described herein, upon approval a submitted response, an audience member may be rewarded with an incentive. The amount or type of incentive rewarded may be determined based on a number of factors including, without limitation, the value of the query or query response assigned by the QR valuation module 1320, the response method used by the audience member in responding to the query, the amount(s) of incentives already rewarded (e.g., to the audience member or to all audience members in connection with the particular word or phrase or through incentive-based user feedback), the language of the query or the language of the response provided, and the type of word or phrase for which a response was submitted (e.g., chatspeak, abbreviation or special domain word or phrase). The incentive rewarded may comprise real world currency or virtual currency, such as in-game currency or in-game item, which may or may not have value outside its related virtual economy (e.g., monetary value in a real world economy). For some embodiments, the incentive may comprise a real world good or service or a virtual good or service, which may have an associated monetary value. Those skilled in the art that other forms of incentives may be rewarded in different embodiments.

For some embodiments, the incentive reward module 1330 may be responsible for notifying an audience member when one or more of their submitted responses are approved and/or when an incentive has been awarded to the audience member for a submitted response that has been approved. In various embodiments, the incentive reward module 1330 may notify the audience member of the incentive reward through a notification message (e.g., in-chat message, such as a pop-up message) and/or through an update to a listing of statuses for submitted responses.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for various embodiments, a system for user feedback may include more or less components than those illustrated in FIG. 13, and each component illustrated in FIG. 13 may perform more or less operations than those described for each component.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example user feedback client system in accordance with various embodiments. For illustrative purposes, in FIG. 14 the user feedback client system is shown as part of a chat client system 1400 in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the example user feedback client system may be part of a game chat client system available in conjunction with an MMO game (e.g., in-game chat client system), where various players of the MMO game can choose to provide user feedback for flagged words or phrases, possibly in return for in-game currency/credit/item as an inventive for the feedback. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for some embodiments, the example system user feedback, some or all of its related components, may be separate from the example communication transformation and translation system 1300.

As shown in FIG. 14, the chat client system 1400 may comprise a chat client controller 1402, a chat client communications module 1404, and a chat client graphical user interface (GUI) module 1406. In some embodiments, the chat client controller 1402, the chat client communications module 1404, and the chat client GUI module 1406 may be similar to the components of the chat client system 104 as described herein.

As also shown in FIG. 14, the chat client system 1400 may comprise a transformation/user feedback (UF) query preferences module 1408 and a transformation/user feedback (UF) query graphical user interface (GUI) module 1410. For some embodiments, the UF query preferences module 1408 and/or the UF query GUI module 1410 facilitate user feedback interactions with respect to the CTT system 1300. In the context of the chat client system 1400, a chat user of the chat client system 1400 can be an audience member with respect to the user feedback systems of various embodiments (e.g., the CTT system 1300).

The UF query preferences module 1408 may be configured to manage and otherwise permit a chat user to preview, defined, and/or adjust preferences in relation to the user feedback features provided in connection with user feedback systems of some embodiment (e.g., the CTT system 1300). Example of preferences managed by UF query preferences module 1408 may include, for instance, language preferences relating to user feedback (e.g., language of words or phrases solicited for user feedback and/or language of the user feedback sought), preferred response methods for user feedback queries (e.g., select-form responses over free-form responses), or preferred word or phrase types (e.g., abbreviations, chatspeak, physics related, or idioms), and the like.

As used herein, a select-form response is a response that is predetermined and selectable from a listing of two or more select-form responses. Depending on the embodiment, a listing of select-form responses may permit an audience member to select two or more responses when applicable. A free-form response is a response that comprises a text-based value (e.g., character value or string value) entered into a field by an audience member.

The UF query GUI module 1410 may graphically facilitate the presentation of a query generated for user feedback and provided to a chat user (e.g., by the CTT system 1300), presentation of one or more response methods associated with the query, and/or receiving a response from the chat user through the presented response method. The UF query GUI module 1410 may also facilitate management of management of preferences through the UF query preferences module 1408. More regarding with the graphical user interfaces that may be presented at a chat client system is described later with respect to FIGS. 17-23 and 24-31.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for various embodiments, a client system for user feedback may include more or less components than those illustrated in FIG. 14, and each component illustrated in FIG. 14 may perform more or less operations than those described for each component.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method 1500 for user feedback in accordance with various embodiments. At step 1502, the translation failure management module 1314 may identify a potential failure of a transformation or translation of a text, possibly from a first language to a second language. At step 1504, the translation failure management module 1314 may also select a word or phrase, from the identified potential failure, for user feedback. At step 1506, the UF query audience selection module 1318 may select an audience member for soliciting user feedback. At step 1508, the UF query generation module 1316 may generate a query to obtain the user feedback, possibly from the selected audience member. At step 1510, the response evaluation module 1324 may receive a response to the generated query. The query API module 1322 may be responsible for providing the generated query to the selected audience member, and receiving the response to the generated query. At step 1512, the response evaluation module 1324 may evaluated the received the response. At step 1514, the audience competence evaluation module 1328 may evaluate the competence of the selected audience member, possibly based on the response provided in step 1510 and/or the evaluation of the received response as performed in step 1512. At step 1516, the incentive reward module 1330 may be reward the selected audience member an incentive based on the response evaluation. As noted herein, upon evaluating a response and determining that it is approved, the incentive reward module 1330 may reward the audience member with a reward, possibly in accordance with the value of the query and/or the query response as determined by the QR valuation module 1320. At step 1518, the translation data store update module 1326 may update a transformation or translation based on the response evaluation. As noted herein, upon evaluating a response and determine that it is approved, the translation data store update module 1326 may update a translation or transformation that correspond to the word or phrase of the query and the submitted query response.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an example data flow 1600 for a user feedback system in accordance with various embodiments. As shown, the data flow 1600 involve a chat client system 1400, a translation failure management module 1314, the UF query generation module 1316, the UF query audience selection module 1318, the response evaluation module 1324, the translation data store update module 1326, and the incentive reward module 1330. The data flow 1600 further involve an undefined words/phrases data store 1602, a recorded responses data store 1604, a feedback audience data store 1606, a response approval data store 1608, a chat data store 1610, and a dictionary data store 1612.

The undefined words/phrases data store 1602 may comprise a word or phrase associated with a translation failure and for which user feedback is being sought. The undefined words/phrases data store 1602 may include, with the word or phrase, a sample sentence in which the word or phrase is used (e.g., word or phrase context), a confidence measure that indicates us how important the word or phrase is (e.g., word importance), source language for the word or phrase, a target language for the user feedback sought, and the like. In some embodiments, the word importance of a word or phrase in the undefined words/phrases data store 1602 may initial equal for all words but gets increased as the word or phrase is encountered and problematic and/or untranslatable.

The recorded responses data store 1604 may comprise a user feedback response, received from an audience member and recorded for a word or phrase included in the undefined words/phrases data store 1602. In some embodiments, the user feedback response comprises a response received for a query generated to obtain user feedback with respect to the word or phrase. The undefined words/phrases data store 1602 may include, with the recorded user feedback response, an identifier for the audience member submitting the user feedback response, a timestamp for when the user feedback response was received and/or recorded, an indication of whether the recorded user feedback response is approved, a timestamp for when the recorded user feedback response is approved, and the like.

The feedback audience data store 1606 may comprise a set of identifiers for audience members that chosen to participate in user feedback for a word or phrase included in the undefined words/phrases data store 1602. The feedback audience data store 1606 may include, with each identifier for an audience member, a confidence score that reflects the consistency, competency, and/or confidence of the audience member in providing user feedback responses.

The response approval data store 1608 may comprise each unique user feedback response received in connection with a word or phrase included in the undefined words/phrases data store 1602. The response approval data store 1608 may include, with each unique user feedback response, an indication of whether the unique user feedback response is an approved response (e.g., correct response), a rejected response (e.g., incorrect response), a response pending review (e.g., response needing review), or a response having some other status. In some embodiments, the response approval data store 1608 may be employed in determining when a user feedback response received from an audience member and recorded in the recorded responses data store 1604 has been approved.

According to some embodiments, the translation failure management module 1314 may be configured to review chat logs, possibly provided by the chat data store 1610, and identify one or more words or phrases associated with actual or potential translation failures. In various embodiments, the translation failure management module 1314 may be configured to exclude those words, or phrases, defined in the dictionary data store 1612, which may comprise a standard dictionary (e.g., Oxford dictionary) and/or a dictionary of words or phrases (e.g., chatspeak words or phrases) that an embodiment described herein can parse, recognize, and/or handle. Words or phrases identified by the translation failure management module 1314 may be added to the undefined words/phrases data store 1602, thereby enabling those added words and phrases to be selected for user feedback from select audience members.

The translation failure management module 1314 may be configured to select one or more words or phrases, possibly from the undefined words/phrases data store 1602, for user feedback. For some embodiments, the translation failure management module 1314 may select from a set of words or phrases designated as having the highest importance in the undefined words/phrases data store 1602 (e.g., selected from top 10 important words or phrases in the undefined words/phrases data store 1602). In some embodiments, the translation failure management module 1314 may select two or more words or phrases so that an audience member can be provided with a set of two or more user feedbacks from which to choose to respond (e.g., enable the audience member to choose those user feedbacks to which they feel most confident responding). The selection process by the translation failure management module 1314 from the undefined words/phrases data store 1602 may be random, based on word or phrase importance, age of the word or phrase in the undefined words/phrases data store 1602, a preference of the selected audience member by the UF query audience selection module 1318, whether the audience member selected by the UF query audience selection module 1318 has already responded to the word or phrase to be selected (e.g., determine based on checking the recorded responses data store 1604 for the word or phrase to be selected), and the like.

The UF query audience selection module 1318 may be configured to select one or more audience members, possibly from the feedback audience data store 1606, from whom user feedback may be sought. As described herein, the user feedback may be sought for the words or phrases selected by the translation failure management module 1314, possibly from the chat data store 1610. The selection of an audience member from the feedback audience data store 1606 may be dependent on the competency level associated with the audience member.

The UF query generation module 1316 may be configured to generate one or more queries for the words or phrases selected by the translation failure management module 1314, possibly from the undefined words/phrases data store 1602, for user feedback. As shown, the translation failure management module 1314 may provide the UF query generation module 1316 with the selected words or phrases for which one or more queries are to be generated. As described herein, the UF query generation module 1316 may consider a number of different factors when generating the query including, for instance, the preferences of the audience members selected by the UF query audience selection module 1318 and the word or phrase selected for user feedback by the translation failure management module 1314. Eventually, the UF query generation module 1316 may provide the chat client system 1400 with the one or more queries generated by the UF query generation module 1316, which may have generated a different query for each word selected and provided by the translation failure management module 1314.

Eventually, the one or more queries generated by the UF query generation module 1316 may be provided to the chat client system 1400, which in turn would present the provided queries for selection by a user at the chat client system 1400. Depending on the embodiment, the UF query generation module 1316 may provide the generated queries to the chat client system or, alternatively, another component may be responsible for providing the generated queries to the chat client system. Once presented to the generated queries are presented for selection at the client chat system 1400, the user at the client chat system 1400 may choose to respond to one or more of the presented queries, and those responses provided by the chat client system 1400 may be added (e.g., recorded) to the recorded responses data store 1604.

When a response is added to the recorded responses data store 1604, some embodiments check the added response may be evaluated by the response evaluation module 1324. As described herein, the response evaluation module 1324 may evaluate of a response by check the response and disposition the status of a response.

As shown in FIG. 16, the response evaluation module 1324 comprises a response check module 1614, which may be configured to perform a status check of a user feedback response during evaluation of the user feedback response. The response check module 1614 may check the status of a user feedback response from the client chat system 1400 by retrieving the user feedback response from the recorded responses data store 1604 and checking the status of the unique response in the response approval data store 1608 that corresponds to the retrieved user feedback response. In doing so, the response check module 1614 can determine whether a given user feedback response is approved or rejected. The approval status of the retrieved user feedback response in the recorded responses data store 1604 may be updated according to the latest status check performed by the response check module 1614. Where the response check module 1614 determines that a retrieved user feedback response has been approved, the approval status of the retrieved user feedback response in the recorded responses data store 1604 may be updated to reflect the approval and to include a timestamp for when the approval status was updated. Eventually, the approval reflected in the recorded responses data store 1604 for the retrieved user feedback response may result in the incentive reward module 1330 rewarding an incentive to the audience member that submitted the approved user feedback response.

If the status of the retrieved translation response is still pending review, the response check module 1614 may re-check the status of the retrieved user feedback response at a later time (e.g., according to a predetermined schedule). If the status of the retrieved translation response is rejection, the approval status of the retrieved user feedback response in the recorded responses data store 1604 may be updated to reflect the rejection.

Where a unique response corresponding the retrieved user feedback response is not found, the retrieved user feedback response can be added to the response approval data store 1608 as a unique response for the word or phrase for which the user feedback response was provided (e.g., by a user at the chat client system 1400). Additionally, where a retrieved user feedback response is added to the response approval data store 1608 as a unique response, the unique response may have the initial status of pending approval, which will remain until such time as the status of the unique response is manually or automatically dispositioned (e.g., through the evaluation response module 1324).

As shown in FIG. 16, the response evaluation module 1324 also comprises a response validator 1616, which may be configured to disposition the status a unique user feedback response as being approved, rejected, or pending approval. As described herein, a unique user feedback response, submitted in connection with a generated query to obtain user feedback, may be considered to be pending approval until such time as the unique user feedback response has been approved as being valid for the word, or phrase associated with the generated query or rejected as being invalid for the word or phrase associated with the generated query.

For some embodiments, the response evaluation module 1324 may be configured to determine when a given word or phrase no longer in need of additional user feedback. The response evaluation module 1324 may make such a determined based on such example of factors as how many unique user feedback response have been approved for the given word or phrase, and whether the count of a unique and approved user feedback response has met or exceeded a specific threshold. When a given word or phrase is determined to longer need further user feedback, the response evaluation module 1324 may be configured to remove the given word or phrase from the undefined words/phrases data store 1602, thereby removing the word or phrase from future selection (e.g., by the translation failure management module 1314) for user feedback.

As described herein, the incentive reward module 1330 may reward an incentive to an audience member once a user feedback response they have provided has been approved as a valid response for the word or phrase for which the user feedback response was provided (e.g., by the audience member through the chat client system 1400). The incentive reward module 1330 may identify one or more user feedback responses, in the recorded responses data store 1604, that were recently approved (e.g., their approval status were recently updated to reflect the approval) and/or that were approved since the last time the incentive reward module 1330 attempted to identify one or more user feedback responses in the recorded responses data store 1604 having an approved status. The incentive reward module 1330 may determine when a given user feedback response was last approved based on the approval timestamp included for the user feedback response in the recorded responses data store 1604. For some embodiments, once an incentive is rewarded for a translated feedback response in the recorded responses data store 1604, the translated feedback response may be removed from the recorded responses data store 1604. Alternatively, once an incentive is rewarded for a translated feedback response in the recorded responses data store 1604, the translated feedback response may be updated in the recorded responses data store 1604 to indicate, for instance, when an incentive has been rewarded, the amount of incentive rewarded, the type of incentive rewarded, when the audience member was notified of the reward, and/or how the audience member was notified of the incentive reward.

FIG. 17 depicts example screenshots for receiving user feedback for a word in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, FIG. 17 presents screenshots 1702, 1704, and 1706, which represent examples of GUIs that may be presented to an audience member (e.g., through the chat client system 1400) to facilitate user feedback processes. The screenshot 1702 presents an example of a banner 1708 that solicits one or more audience members to participate in a user feedback for a word or phrase associated with a translation failure. An audience member may choose to participate in user feedback by selecting the banner 1708, which may lead in the commencement of a user feedback session and/or lead the audience member to a listing of available user feedback opportunities from which the audience member can choose to participate. As described herein, a user feedback opportunity may permit an audience member to provide a definition for a word or phrase associated with an actual or potential translation failure. In accordance with some embodiments, the audience member can select one of the available user feedback opportunities associated with a word or phrase and, then, provide a definition for the associated word or phrase when prompted to do so.

The screenshot 1704 presents a listing 1710 of available user feedback opportunities for various words (e.g., “Skrilla,” “Booty,” “Cray,” “Hecka,” and “Freshness”). The screenshot 1706 provides an example of a query 1712 presented to an audience member to obtain user feedback for the word “Skrilla.” As shown, the query 1712 provides an example context 1714 in which the word “Skrilla” is used, and also provides a field 1716 configured to receive a free-form response for the query 1712. An audience member may be led to the screenshot 1706 when the user feedback for the word “Skrilla” is selected by the audience member from the listing 1710 of screenshot 1704.

FIG. 18 depicts example screenshots for skipping user feedback in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, FIG. 18 presents screenshots 1802 and 1804, which represent examples of GUIs that may be presented to an audience member (e.g., through the chat client system 1400) to facilitate user feedback processes. The screenshot 1802 presents a listing 1806 of user feedback opportunities available for selection by an audience member. As shown, the listing 1806 provides an audience member with the option to skip one or more of the user feedback opportunities listed.

The screenshot 1804 presents an example of a query 1808 presented to an audience member to obtain user feedback for the various words. As shown, the query 1808 provides an audience member with the option to skip the process of providing a response to the query 1808. Certain embodiments may avoid inaccurate and/or fabricated responses to various user feedback queries by providing an audience member with the option to skip certain user feedback opportunities and/or various user feedback queries,

FIG. 19 depicts example screenshots for receiving user feedback for a phrase in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, FIG. 19 presents screenshots 1902 and 1904, which represent examples of GUIs that may be presented to an audience member (e.g., through the chat client system 1400) to facilitate user feedback processes. The screenshot 1902 presents a listing 1906 of user feedback opportunities available for selection by an audience member. As shown, the listing 1906 of available user feedback opportunities for various words and phrases (e.g., “Skrilla,” and “Pardon my french”).

The screenshot 1904 provides an example of a query 1908 presented to an audience member to obtain user feedback for the phrase “Pardon my french.” As shown, the query 1908 provides an example context 1910 in which the phrase “Pardon my french” is used, and also provides a field 1912 configured to receive a free-form response for the query 1910. An audience member may be led to the screenshot 1904 when the user feedback for the phrase “Pardon my french” is selected by the audience member from the listing 1906 of screenshot 1902.

FIG. 20 depicts example screenshots for receiving user feedback through a listing of select-form responses in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, FIG. 20 presents screenshots 2002, 2004, and 2006, which represent examples of GUIs that may be presented to an audience member (e.g., through the chat client system 1400) to facilitate user feedback processes. The screenshot 2002 presents an example of a banner 2008 that solicits one or more audience members to participate in a user feedback for a word or phrase associated with a translation failure. An audience member may choose to participate in user feedback by selecting the banner 2008, which may lead in the commencement of a user feedback session and/or lead the audience member to a listing of available user feedback opportunities from which the audience member can choose to participate.

The screenshot 2004 provides an example of a query 2010 presented to an audience member to obtain user feedback for the word “Skrilla.” Included with the query 2010 is a select-form responses 2012, which lists possible responses from which an audience member can select. The screenshot 2006 presents an incentive (e.g., 5 gold coins) being rewarded by notifications 2014 and 2016 once a correct response “money” is selected for the word “Skrilla.”

FIG. 21 depicts example screenshots for creating a listing of selections in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 21, a screenshot 2102 provides an example of a query 2106 presented to an audience member to obtain user feedback for the word “Skrilla.” As shown, the query 2106 provides an example context 2108 in which the word “Skrilla” is used, and also provides a field 2110 configured to receive a free-form response for the query 2106.

According to some embodiments, a select-form response method, used to obtain user feedback for a given word or phrase, may comprise a listing of predefined responses selected from free-form responses gathered for the given word or phrase. Accordingly, as various audience members provide free-form responses for the word “Skrilla” through the field 2110 (e.g., “A lot of money,” “Cash,” “Money,” and “Really Rich”), the response collected may be useful in creating a listing of select-form responses 2112, as shown in the screenshot 2104.

FIG. 22 depicts screenshots illustrating example incentive notifications in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 22, a screenshot 2200 presents an example of a notification to an audience member notifying them of the approval of their response of “money” for the word “Skrilla,” and notify them of an incentive rewarded for the approved response (e.g., XXXX Gold). A screenshot 2202 presents an example of a notification to an audience member notifying them of the rejection of their response of “money” for the word “Skrilla.” The screenshot 2204 presents an example of a push notification to an audience member notifying them of the approval of their response.

FIG. 23 depicts screenshots illustrating an example of when a translation has failed between client chat systems in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 23, a screenshot 2300 represents an example interface of a first chat client system and a screenshot 2302 representing an example interface of a second chat client system. A double arrow 2304 represents chat communications between the first and second chat client systems. As shown, as chat user “Aramis” enters chat communications into the interface of the first chat client system in English, the entered chat communications is translated to French and presented on the interface of the second chat client system of chat user “tapir.” Likewise, as chat user “tapir” enters chat communications into the interface of the second chat client system in French, the entered chat communications is translated to English and presented on the interface of the first chat client system of chat user “Aramis.”

As shown in FIG. 23, chat communication 2306 (i.e., “Tru dat bro?”) entered by chat user “Aramis” in the interface of the first chat client system fails to translate when it is sent to the interface of the second chat client system of chat user “tapir.” The chat communication 2308 (i.e., “Tru dat bro?”) presented to chat user “tapir” reflects this translation failure, by presenting the original chat communication entered by chat user “Aramis” and indicating to chat user “tapir” that the chat communication is the original chat message entered by chat user “Aramis.”

The translation failure illustrated by FIG. 23 may be one that can benefit from user feedback in accordance with some embodiments. In accordance with some embodiments, the translation failure illustrated in FIG. 23 may be identified by the translation failure management module 1314 and one or more words from the original chat communication 2306 (i.e., “Tru dat bro?”) may be added to the undefined words/phrases data store 1602 for future selection for user feedback from participating audience members. For example, each of words “Tru,” “dat,” and “bro” may be added to the undefined words/phrases data store 1602 for future user feedback of each.

FIGS. 24 and 25 depict screenshots illustrating example listings of words or phrases available for user feedback in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 24, a screenshot 2400 presents a listing 2402 of user feedback opportunities, available for audience member selection, for words and phrases (including “Tru”), which are available for selection by an audience member. In FIG. 25, a screenshot 2500 presents another listing 2502 of user feedback opportunities, available for audience member selection, for phrases available for selection by an audience member. In both FIGS. 24 and 25, the screenshots 2400 and 2500 may be part of an in-game chat system, whereby game players can provide user feedback for certain words or phrases and, upon approval of the feedback response, in-game credit (e.g., in-game gold) may be awarded.

FIG. 26 depicts a screenshot illustrating an example of defining a word in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 26, the screenshot 2600 presents a query 2602 that includes an example context 2604 in which the word “Tru” is used, and also provides a field 2606 configured to receive a free-form response for the query 2602.

FIG. 27 depicts a screenshot illustrating an example listing of select-form responses in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 27, the screenshot 2700 presents a listing 2702 of responses that an audience member can select to define the word “nemore.”

FIG. 28 depicts a screenshot illustrating an example listing of statuses for responses submitted in accordance with various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 28, a listing 2802 of submitted response statuses includes a pending status for a first response 2804, and approved statuses for the second and third responses 2806 and 2808. For some embodiments, the list 2802 may provide further information for response statuses including, for instance, why a particular response has been approved, rejected, or still pending review.

FIG. 29 depicts a screenshot illustrating an example incentive notification in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, FIG. 29 provides a screenshot 2900 that presents an example notification 2902 to a member for correctly defining the phrase “U still thr” as “You still there?” during a user feedback process in accordance with an embodiment. The notification indicates that as an incentive for the user feedback provided, he or she will be rewarded with 10 gold pieces, which may be of value or useful in as in-game currency. As shown, the notification also provides a summary of the user feedback (i.e., the word or phrase in question and the user feedback response provided). 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: performing by one or more computers: selecting a word or phrase of a message that was not correctly translated from a first language to a second language; selecting a plurality of users from whom to solicit user feedback for the translation, wherein each selected user has not submitted feedback more times than a quota for a time period; sending a query requesting user assistance in translating the selected word or phrase to one or more of the plurality of users; receiving at least one response to the query from one or more of the users to whom the query was sent; determining that the at least one response is approved; determining a credit based on a complexity of the selected word or phrase or an importance of the selected word or phrase; crediting with the determined credit a respective account of one or more of the users who provided the at least one approved response; updating at least one of a transformation module and a translation module according to the at least one approved response; and using at least one computer processor and at least one of the updated transformation module and the updated translation module to translate a second message comprising the selected word or phrase.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting a second plurality of users from whom to solicit user feedback for the translation; sending a second query requesting user assistance in translating the selected word or phrase to one or more of the second plurality of users; receiving at least one second response to the second query from one or more of the second users to whom the second query was sent; determining that the at least one second response is approved; and crediting a respective account of one or more of the second users who provided the at least one approved second response.
 3. The method of claim wherein the determined credit comprises an in-game currency or an in-game item.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving from a user, data that flags the translation as being incorrect.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one response comprises a definition for the word or phrase in the first language.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one response comprises a definition for the word or phrase in the second language.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the query comprises a field configured to receive a text-based value.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the query comprises a set of preselected definitions from which a user can choose a definition for the word or phrase.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one response comprises an identification of one of the preselected definitions.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of preselected definitions comprises at least one definition provided by a user in response to a previous query.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: evaluating a competency of one of the plurality of users based on an accuracy of the at least one response.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the at least one of the transformation module and the translation module comprises: storing a transformation or translation of the selected word or phrase based on the at least one approved response.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the at least one response is approved comprises: determining that the at least one response matches another response received.
 14. A computer-implemented system comprising: one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising: selecting a word or phrase of a message that was not correctly translated from a first language to a second language; selecting a plurality of users from whom to solicit user feedback for the translation, wherein each selected user has not submitted feedback more times than a quota for a time period; sending a query requesting user assistance in translating the selected word or phrase to one or more of the plurality of users; receiving at least one response to the query from one or more of the users to whom the query was sent; determining that the at least one response is approved; determining a credit based on a complexity of the selected word or phrase or an importance of the selected word or phrase; crediting with the determined credit a respective account of one or more of the users who provided the at least one approved response; updating at least one of a transformation module and a translation module according to the at least one approved response; and using at least one computer processor and at least one of the updated transformation module and the updated translation module to translate a second message comprising the selected word or phrase.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the determined credit comprises an in-game currency or an in-game item.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise: selecting a second plurality of users from whom to solicit user feedback for the translation; sending a second query requesting user assistance in translating the selected word or phrase to one or more of the second plurality of users; receiving at least one second response to the second query from one or more of the second users to whom the second query was sent; determining that the at least one second response is approved; and crediting a respective account of one or more of the second users who provided the at least one approved second response.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein determining that the at least one response is approved comprises: determining that the at least one response matches another response received.
 18. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving, from a user, data that flags the translation as being incorrect.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one response comprises a definition for the word or phrase in the first language.
 20. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one response comprises a definition for the word or phrase in the second language.
 21. The system of claim 14, wherein the query comprises a field configured to receive a text-based value.
 22. The system of claim 14, wherein the query comprises a set of preselected definitions from which a user the person can choose a definition for the word or phrase.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least one response comprises an identification of one of the preselected definitions.
 24. The system of claim 22, wherein the set of preselected definitions comprises at least one definition provided by a user in response to a previous query.
 25. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise: evaluating a competency of one of the plurality of users based on an accuracy of the at least one response.
 26. The system of claim 14, wherein updating the at least one of the transformation module and the translation module comprises: storing a transformation or translation of the selected word or phrase based on the at least one approved response.
 27. An article of manufacture comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more computers, causes the computers to perform operations comprising: selecting a word or phrase of a message that was not correctly translated from a first language to a second language; selecting a plurality of users from whom to solicit user feedback for the translation; wherein each selected user has not submitted feedback more times than a quota for a time period; sending a query requesting user assistance in translating the selected word or phrase to one or more of the plurality of users; receiving at least one response to the query from one or more of the users to whom the query was sent; determining that the at least one response is approved; determining a credit based on a complexity of the selected word or phrase or an importance of the selected word or phrase; crediting with the determined credit a respective account of one or more of the users who provided the at least one approved response; updating at least one of a transformation module and a translation module according to the at least one approved response; and using at least one computer processor and at least one of the updated transformation module and the updated translation module to translate a second message comprising the selected word or phrase. 